I walked quickly out of my church. It was late. My dad was waiting. I stared at the parking lot. Then I saw my dad's little red Honda. “Get in! Get in! Why are you so late all the time?”

      The ride home was not much more than five minutes but each minute moved slowly. We were stuck behind an old man. He wasn't going more than 15 kilometers an hour. My dad started to shout, “Learn how to drive, Grandpa!” He hit the steering wheel(方向盘) with his hands. He was really angry.

      “Dad, stop it. Why do you always…?” He cut me off, “I'd not get stuck at the light without this fellow!” The old man got to the light just as it was changing. “You're free! Drive away quickly,” I thought. I looked over my dad. “Can you believe that, Steph? I get stuck at every light. There are so many stupid drivers out there, he said angrily.

      Who gives him the right to shout at someone? Anger built inside me. “What if I shouted at my friends when they asked me for help?” I said. I looked out of the window, trying to catch my breath.

      “You know, Steph, I think you are going to be a psychologist(心理学家),” he said. I remembered the last time I tried to say something, he had fumed, “Don't tell me how to drive! If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it! Think about what you say before you talk.”

      Usually, he'd be angry that I would doubt his authority (权威), but this time, he accept what I had said. A sense of pride rose up in me. It had been a short drive, but it had been the best car ride of my life.

    It was a Monday morning. As the teacher walked into the classroom, he heard a whisper, “Here's the teacher. I'm sure this boring fellow (家伙) is going to talk about how to use commas (逗号). ” It was a boy's voice and the teacher knew who he was. However, the teacher didn't get angry. He said nothing about it but he really began to talk about how to use commas, and then he wrote the following sentence on the blackboard, “Nick says the teacher is a boring fellow. ”

    The class laughed and Nick's face turned red. “Now，” said the teacher, “I'll tell you the importance of commas. ” He put two commas in the sentence, and then read, “ Nick, says the teacher, is a boring fellow. ”

    The whole class laughed again. Nick felt very surprised at first, then his face became much redder. Finally he couldn't help (情不自禁) laughing with the other students, too.

    I'm going to have a great weekend. I'll go across Canada with my parents by car. We'll drive seven or eight hours a day.

    In Toronto, we'll stay in a big hotel. The food is very delicious. There's a big swimming pool and a lot of game rooms. I think I'll play there happily. But there will be lots of people in the hotel, so I think we'll sleep in one room. And it's expensive.

    Then we are going to stay in a small cabin(小木屋) in the mountains. I really love it. The cabin is clean and quiet. We'll have two rooms, so I can get up late in the morning. But we have to get up early because we want to go swimming. There is a beautiful lake near the cabin. We can go fishing and cook food outside.

    After giving a talk at a high school, I was asked to pay a visit to a special student. An illness had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an interest in meeting me, and it would mean a great deal to him. I agreed.

    During the nine-mile drive to his home, I found out something about Matthew. He had muscular dystrophy(肌肉营养不良). When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to five, and then they were told he would not make it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal power lifter, and I knew about overcoming obstacles and going for my dreams.

    I spent over an hour talking to Matthew. Never once did he complain or ask, "Why me? "He spoke about winning and succeeding and going for his dreams. Obviously, he knew what he was talking about. He didn't mention that his classmates had made fun of him because he was different. He just talked about his hopes for the future, and how one day he wanted to lift weights with me. When we finished talking, I went to my briefcase and pulled out the first gold medal I had won and put it around his neck. I told him he was more of a winner and knew more about success and overcoming obstacles than I ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took it off and handed it back to me. He said, "You are a champion. You earned that medal. Someday when I get to the Olympics and win my own medal, I will show it to you. "

    Last summer I received a letter from Matthew's parents telling me that Matthew had passed away. They wanted me to have a letter he had written to me a few days before: Dear Dick,

    My mum said I should send you a thank-you letter for the picture you sent me. I also want to let you know that the doctors tell me that I don't have tong to live any more, but I still smile as much as I can. I told you someday I was going to the Olympics and win a gold medal, but I know now I will newer get to do that. But I know I'm a champion, and God knows that too. When I get to Heaven, God will give me my medal and when you get there, I will show, it to you. Thank you for loving me.

Your friend,

Matthew