【推荐1】I always believed that my parents had a good marriage, but just before I, the youngest of four children, turned sixteen, my belief was painfully tested. My father, who used to share in the chores around the house, gradually started becoming downhearted. From the time he came home from his job to the time he went to bed, he hardly spoke a word to my mom or us kids. The strain on my mom and dad’s relationship was very evident. However, I was not prepared for the day that Mom told us that Dad had decided to leave. All that I could think of was that I was going to become a product of a divorced family. It was something I never thought possible, and it grieved me greatly. I kept telling myself that it wasn’t going to happen, and I went totally numb when I knew my dad was really leaving. The night before he left, I stayed up in my room for a long time. I prayed and I cried and I wrote a long letter to my dad. I told him how much I loved him and how much I would miss him. I told him that I was praying for him and wanted him to know that, no matter what, Jesus and I loved him. I told him that I would always and forever be his Krissie...his Noodles. As I folded my note, I stuck in a picture of me with a saying I had always heard: “Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a daddy.”

Early the next morning, as my dad left our house, I sneaked out to the car and slipped my letter into one of his bags.

Two weeks went by with hardly a word from my father. Then, one afternoon, I came home from school to find my mom sitting at the dining room table waiting to talk to me. I could see in her eyes that she had been crying. She told me that Dad had been there and that they had talked for a long time. They decided that there were things that the both of them could and would change and that their marriage was worth saving. Mom then turned her focus to my eyes.

“Kristi, Dad told me that you wrote him a letter. Can I ask what you wrote to him?”

I found it hard to share with my mom what I had written from my heart to my dad. I mumbled a few words and shrugged.

A few days later my dad was back. We never talked about the letter, my dad and I. I guess I always figured that it was something that was a secret between us.

【推荐3】“Can we eat this one, Dad?” my four-year-old daughter, Alicia, asks. We’re on one of our Thursday adventures, searching the nearby woods for eatable mushrooms. She’s pointing at a bright-red cap covered with white dots. I pull out my handy mushroom-identification app, which notes that Amanita muscaria, while eatable if prepared properly, is also a known hallucinogen (致幻剂). I have a firm “tell them the truth and be as precise as possible” philosophy and explain what the app says, and that I don’t think our Thursday adventures are ready to get quite that adventurous yet.

Watching your kids learn new skills is extraordinarily rewarding, but I’ve experienced more personal growth than I have at any other point in my life.

Last year, after a winter of practicing skiing on the green tracks for beginners each week, Alicia was french-frying her way down blues and even attempted her first black. That month also witnessed me visiting the mountain more times than in the 15 years combined and I’ve got myself a partner for life.

It’s not all easy — but sometimes that’s the point. Alicia practices the violin every day, and although she enjoys it, even 15 minutes of practice can upset her. The trick, I’ve found, is to let her watch me try to get better at something, too. I start taking piano lessons at 41 years old with the idea that if she sees me struggling as I practice and then improve, she’ll understand that things don’t come easy, even for grown-ups. I know there’s going to be a time when I’ll end up on the sideline cheering her on as she finds her own passions. I’m okay with this, and I’m hoping that by then she’ll carry the joy of practice and skills through life.

【推荐1】In March 2008, I told my friends: I was going to shut down my law practice and travel around the world in a year. What's more, I'd do it without taking any flights or making a single advance (预先的) reservation. Some friends offered support and encouragement, while others were doubtful. Once I'd said the words, there was no turning back. It took months to shut down my law practice and get things in order.

There really wasn't any great reason why I wanted to circle the world. I simply wanted to do something fun and different. When I had this plan, I didn't plan for it to lead to a life on the road forever. I was planning to come back, open a new law practice and write a hugely successful book about my travels. Before I left, I started a travel blog, which served as a way to take notes for the book.

Once I set off on my trip in December 2008, I found that travelling without using planes was not easy. It took seven days and nights on trains to get from Moscow to Beijing. Sometimes, I wouldn't see a village or a human being for 10 hours. I had a whole cabin to myself from the second day of that journey.

It turned out that travelling with no reservations was far less difficult than I had imagined. Pulling into a city on a bus with a bag, looking in a guidebook for a few suggestions of accommodations (住宿), and then finding an empty room was never a problem.

Soon after I started this adventure, I realized that my return to the US would be temporary (暂时的). About three months into my journey, I realized that I didn't want to go back to my old life. The world is so wonderful and I wanted to see as much of it as I could.

【推荐2】People always say that education is the best investment you can make in your kids.I agree.However,people forget that your children can learn from experiences outside school.Family travel allows kids to explore new cultures,spend quality time with their parents and expand their horizons.My parents taught me this and took my brother and me to South Africa,Russia and Europe when we were kids.I have carried on this tradition and I hope my children will continue it.

Traveling with children is neither easy nor cheap,but it is worth every penny.Both my kids got their passports mere weeks after they were born and boarded their first plane to Chile when they were only three months old.With careful planning,the hassle(困难)of going through airport security and enduring an overnight flight can be minimized and once you arrive at your destination,it is so worth it.

Every city,every town and every country they have visited has allowed my children to learn so much more than what they learn in a classroom.Traveling exposes them to so much more than a textbook.They have experienced different cultures,smelled the local markets,touched handicrafts made by local artisans,and tasted different foods.They have been in places where there is limited contact with the rest of the world and seen how living conditions vary not only between different countries,but also between different cities.

Actually,my kids(now 7 and 10)have learned to pack.They know what they can take through airport security and what is not allowed to go through it.The most important thing they have learned so far,though,is that we do not share the same background,but we can all find common ground.They have learned to respect others and felt respected as well.

【推荐3】Matthew Whitaker has been blind since birth. His parents were told that he only had a 50% chance of survival, and he experienced 11 operations before he was even two years old.

Despite being faced with these terrible situations, he survived. Not only that, he exhibited an excellent gift for playing the piano; by the time he was 3 years old, he was playing two-handed piano compositions and writing his own songs without ever having a teacher. At the age of 5, he even could play the songs completely after hearing them one time.

Dalia Sakas, the director of New York's Filomen M. D Agostino Greenberg Music School,recalls the moment she decided to take Matthew on as a student when he was five years old, making him the youngest person to ever attend the school. Now only 18 years old,Whitaker has since toured the world,headlined famous sites from Carnegie Hall to Kennedy Center,and won a number of music awards.

Such is the height of Whitaker' s talent that he caught the attention of Dr. Charles Limb, a neurologist who also happens to be a fellow musician. Dr.Limb was attracted by what might have been going on inside Whitaker' s brain, so with the permission of the musician and his family, Whitaker took two MRI exams --- first while being exposed to different stimuli,including music,

What Dr.Limb was surprised to find was that Whitaker' s brain seemed to have repurposed its own disused visual cortex(视觉皮质）in order to build other neurological(神经系统的）pathways. Even when Whitaker was simply listening to one of his favorite music, his entire visual cortex lit up.

When Dr.Limb presented Whitaker with his brain scans showing how his brain lit up when he listened to music, the musician was amazed. "I didn't even know that that was happening." When asked about why his brain was inspired in such a way, he simply said "I love music”。