December 16, 2009 was the worst day of my mother’s life. It was the day I told her that her thirty-six-year-old daughter had stage Ⅲbreast cancer. I will never forget the look of hopelessness in her tear-filled eyes as I told her. Seeing my mother so b uncontrollably broke my heart. It was one of the few times in my life that I saw my mother weak and vulnerable (脆弱的).

Since I had been diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, the doctors had a heavy-duty plan of attack to beat it, which would mean a double mastectomy (切除), five months of chemotherapy (化疗), and five weeks of radiation. It also meant that an independent single woman who lived alone was in serious need of some help taking care of herself.

Thankfully, I was blessed with my own personal army of family, friends, and co-workers who had offered to help me out with whatever I might need, including meals and rides to doctors’ appointments. But as grateful as I was, there really was only one person who I wanted by my side—my mom. My mother lived more than 300 miles away, but didn’t even give it a second thought. She was going to be my primary caregiver, driver, personal chef, counselor, and shoulder to cry on. No one else in the world could fill her shoes. It was a job that only she could do.

The night after my first chemotherapy treatment is forever imprinted in my memory. I was never so sick in my entire life. I couldn’t even keep down a glass of water. And after hours spent in the bathroom, I weakly lifted myself into bed, weeping, “Please, take this away from me. Please make me feel better.” At that moment, my mother crawled into bed with me, wrapped her entire body around me, and cried with me. Just like when I was a little girl, her arms enveloping me made it better.

In the following months, my mom experienced real hardship.

I feel greatly moved by what my mother did.

One day, when I was at Lens Crafters waiting to pick up my new pair of glasses, a Mom and her little girl came in. Mom looked to be in her late 30’s but was probably a lot younger and the little girl was maybe five or six with a pair of sparkling blue eyes. Both of their wardrobes were clean and tidy but badly dated to say the least. It was obvious that the family’s financial windfall (意外之财) had not yet arrived.

The Mom politely expressed their intention to the Sales Lady that they were searching for a pair of glasses for the little girl’s first day of school and added that she was in between job 1 and job 2 of the day, so she didn't have a lot of time.

The little girl and the Mom were led around the store looking at these little tiny frames for this darling’s face. The Sales Lady was helping them try on frames; pulling aside her favorites. You know how some little kids actually look ten times cuter in glasses...that was this little girl. She found these cute little frames with a butterfly on them and her face just glowed… A smile ear to ear while she looked back at herself in the mirror.

“We’ll take it.” said Mom in a cheerful voice.

“It’s 20 dollars, Madam.” the Sales Lady replied with a smile.

Mom carefully pulled out a coupon (优惠券) and a $10 note from her pocket. The Sales Lady stared blankly at the coupon. She then explained for some reason this coupon could not be honored, pointing out the mini print at the bottom. The Mom was apparently frozen for a second and then chatted back and forth with the Sales Lady for a bit. Finally the Mom leaned down to her daughter and explained to her that there would be no glasses today, maybe next month.

The little girl’s eyes started to tear up.

Watching this, the Sales Lady decided to help.

There lived two brothers, John McNeil and James, in a village in Kentucky in the north of America, who had lost their parents in a terrible earthquake ten years before. Worse still, ten-year-old John McNeil suffered from serious autism. He often stayed at a corner without saying anything with others and frequently ran everywhere, so his brother James was concerned about his safety.

On a windy, cold day, John McNeil forgot to put on his shoes and ran out the door. He headed straight for the 125-foot electrical tower behind the McNeiI home and didn’t realize the dangers of the structure. That day his thoughts were set on climbing to the top of that tower, touching the sky. Maybe he thought he could meet his parents in the sky. What a poor boy!

His seventeen-year-old brother, James, was always close by. James always made sure that no danger came to his little brother. But today was different. Today, John ran out the door unnoticed. He was making his way to the sky step by step by the time James saw him. John, like most autistic children, had no idea about fear or danger. James, on the other hand, realized that he had to face his greatest fear of all — the fear of heights.

However, James understood the danger of the electrical tower but chose to follow his younger brother secretly, trying not to look down, all the way to the top. He finally reached his brother and held him with his right hand. With his left hand, he held a metal bar to help stabilize them both. What a thrilling scene!

James was shaking. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hundreds of people came together at the base of the tower. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I want a friend!” my five-year-old’s clear blue eyes showed the pain of rejection. Noah is deaf, and the past couple of years have begun to show what the future holds for my little guy.

The first few years of his life, Noah had many friends in our neighborhood. Small children don’t talk a lot and are content to simply play. As time passed and Noah got to the age where speech and hearing were a noticeable part of “hanging out”, his friends started realizing he was different. Soon, no one came to play with my tiny son, and he too began to understand he was different. My heart has ached, and I have spent endless hours in tears, begging God to send him a friend. But the children at school come from everywhere, and none live near enough to “hang out” .

Noah recently began the heartbreaking hobby of writing and leaving mail on the porch (门廊) for his “friends” . He sticks his own toys to the notes, thinking that he can somehow make friends this way. I often have to retrieve (取回) his notes so that he thinks someone is getting his messages of friendship. His excited trips to the front porch the next morning would sometimes net him a feeling of having an unseen pen pal. It breaks my heart.

But today was different. I got a miracle—in fact, three of them.

My phone rang, and I was distracted with a long-distance friend, catching up with each other’s lives without noticing Noah slipping out the front door. It wasn’t until Nick, my sixteen-year-old son came home for lunch that Noah’s absence was known. Panic-stricken, Nick and I searched the house, yard, and garage ... no Noah.

As I searched the house again, a million frightened thoughts came through my brain.

I let them play until lunchtime, at last walking down the street to retrieve my child.