I remember quite well a day 17 years ago. That day, our twin sons, Chad and Brad, 1 their car and left home to attend college. I realized that our 2 would soon become a "table for two". 3 , the boys would come home on the weekends, but 4 , I knew our family life would never be exactly the same again.

    The boys walked around each room to 5 they hadn't forgotten anything they needed. I packed a cooler with 6 and their favorite cold snacks. I found a box and filled it with essential 7 items. I thought they might go to bed hungry that night. I 8 my wallet and placed the little bit of 9 I had in their hands.

    We all walked 10. Chad and Brad gave me big 11 and quickly got into their car. I 12 as they drove away. When their car was 13, I sat down on the driveway and cried 14 than I had cried in a long time. My husband Roy tried to 15 me, but I could see grief in his eyes, as well.

    There are many parents who would 16 this period. Bittersweet feelings will be 17 while I cannot explain them adequately. I can still remember 18 I felt when we began that new chapter in our lives.

    19 time going by, however, Roy and I are now accustomed to our table for two and we enjoy our lives together. I have to admit I still miss our children and the old 20 we had together.

    I moved to a new neighborhood two months ago. In the house with a large 1 across the road lived a taxi driver, a single parent with two school-aged children. At the end of the day, he would2 his taxi on the road. I3 why he did not park it in the garage.

    Then one day I learnt that he had another car in his garage. In the afternoon he would come home 4work, leave his taxi and go out for his 5 affairs in his other car, not in his taxi. I felt it was6.

    I was curious to see his personal car but did not make it until I 7 to be outside one evening two weeks later, when the garage door was8 and he drove out in his “own” car: a Rolls-Royce（劳斯莱斯）! It shook me completely 9 I realized what that meant. You see, he was a taxi driver. But deep inside, he saw himself as something else: a Rolls-Royce owner and a（n）10 . He drove others in his taxi but himself and his children in his Rolls-Royce. For him, a taxi was just something he drove for a living. Rolls-Royce was something he drove for a (n）11.

    We go to bed every night and 12 every morning as parents or children, not as bankers, CEOs or professors. We go for a party as close friends or go for a vacation as a 13. We love life as it is. Yet often, we base our entire happiness and success on how high we 14 the social ladder（梯子）And we never use our Rolls-Royce, by keeping it dusty in our garage. We should focus more on 15we are than what we do!

    I was required to read one of Bernie Siegel's books in college and was hooked on his positivity from that moment on. The stories of his unconventional1and the exceptional patients he wrote about were so2 to me and had such a big3on how I saw life from then on.

    Who knew that so many years later I would look to Dr. Bernie and his CDs again to4my own cancer experience?

    I'm an ambitious5, and when I started going through chemo(化疗), even though I'm a very6 person, I lost my drive to write. I was just too tired and not in the7. One day, while waiting to go in for8, I had one of Dr. Bernie's books in my hand. Another patient9what I was reading and struck up a conversation with me10 he had one of his books with him as well. It11that among other things, he was an eighty-year-old writer. He was 12a published author, and he was currently13on a new book.

    We would see each other at various times and14friends. Sometimes he wore a duck hat, and I would tell myself, he was definitely a(n) 15of Dr. Bernie. He really put a 16on my face. He unfortunately17 last year due to his cancer,18he left a deep impression on me and gave me the 19 to pick up my pen again. I20to myself, "If he can do it, then so can I."

    We all love college reunion(再聚). I feel very lucky to have been able to 1my 25th anniversary reunion. The meals were2welcomed. The celebration was inspiring,3 an overview of the past years. And the 4of my four years on campus were satisfying and5.

    One of my favourite parts was 6about the lives of my classmates. Their7lives-families, relationships-and also their professional work. There's the classmate who is an organic farmer and a leader in the effort to 8 other farmers about organic farming skills; the classmate who9over her family's power plant; the classmate who 10her own company; the classmate who went to a(n)11school and now works as a delivery nurse. All are inspirational. What they also 12 is a commitment to learning, leading, challenging and contributing, all things we learned the value of in college.

    Then there is our classmate who passed away in January 2017. He shared the commitment to all the 13listed above, as well as to the value of adventure and positive thinking. He was missed14 words. As a class, we 15him on Saturday evening and as a college, we did honor to him, along with other classmates who have passed away in the past five years, at a memorial service on Sunday morning. I was honored, on16 of our class and our college, to read his name and 17a candle for him at the service. This classmate was an18throughout his short life.

    I have been 19 on my 25th reunion and on my college days and all the days since. I am 20for the lessons I have learned so far. And I am inspired.

    When Pat Jones finished college, she decided to travel around the world and see as many foreign places as she could1she was young. Pat wanted to visit Latin America2, so she got a job3an English teacher in a school in Bolivia. Pat spoke a little Spanish4she was able to communicate with her students even when they didn't5much English.

    A sentence she had read somewhere stuck in her mind: if you dream6a foreign language, you have really mastered it. Pat repeated this sentence to her students and7that some day she would dream in Spanish and they would dream in8.

    One day, one of her9students came up and explained in Spanish that he had not done his homework. He had10early, but had slept 11 .

    "What does this have to do with your 12?" Pat asked.

    "I dreamed all night, Miss Jones, and my dream was in English."

    "In English?" Pat was very13, since he was such a bad student. She was14 secretly jealous (嫉妒的). Her15was still not in Spanish. But she encouraged her young student. "Well, 16me about your dream."

    "All the people in my dream17 English." the student said. "And all the signs were in English. All the newspapers and magazines and all the TV programs were in English. "

    "Great. That's18, " said Pat. "What did all the people say to you?"

    "I'm sorry, Miss Jones. That's19I slept so terribly. I didn't20a word they said. It was a nightmare (噩梦 )!"