Music is my first love. I can sit down at the piano and forget all about time and space, all about my problems. During the lowest moment in my life, music was my comfort.

I’m a veteran (退伍军人). After I got out of the service, I began a career in music, and then became an ironworker. A few years ago, the one-bedroom apartment I rented was sold. The developer planned to tear it down. The apartment manager, Ray Randle, gave me two months rent-free to find a new place to live. It didn’t help because I’d been disabled from an accident at work and was living on Social Security.

In quiet desperation and with the help of two friends, Jackie and Anne, I packed up my belongings and moved everything—including my electronic keyboard and my piano—into storage. I slept in my car, thinking it would only be temporary. But weeks turned into months and then months turned into years. My car had become my home.

The one thing that kept me alive was music. The wonderful manager at the storage unit would let me play my piano anytime, day or night. I would lose myself in music. I hit my real low one Christmas Eve when I was driving down a narrow road to where I would park my car and sleep at night. Another car came around the corner and crashed into mine. My car—my only home—lost its right front end. At that point, I really had no place to live. I moved in temporarily with a friend. I felt as if all hope for me had gone.

Bruce Knight, a retired firefighter, drove down to get me. “Veterans do not live in their cars,” he said. He drove me to the local homeless shelter, where I stayed for 75 days. That was where I met with volunteers of America’s Veterans Services. They helped me move into a place called Huot House.

Ken Darby, manager of Huot House, told me to move towards life and hug it.

I’m doing much better these days and I continue to play music for different audiences.

Cedar Point was an amusement park in Ohio I had been expecting to visit as a child. We lived close to the park, so I often heard the screams of people on the roller coaster, saw the tired kids with their parents when they left. Sometimes, I looked wistfully at the lights through my window at night.

When I was nine, my grandmother managed to save a little bit of money here and there and took me there one day that summer. I yelled, excitement bubbling inside me. As we arrived at the park for the first time, kids were everywhere, eating popcorn (爆米花) and blowing bubbles. My eyes widened in delight at the scene. I wanted to do all those things, but deep down, I knew we didn’t have enough money. We could only afford to buy a ticket only for one ride for fifteen minutes. I pulled my grandmother toward the ticket window to buy a ticket for the carousel (旋转木马).

It was exactly as I had imagined, straight out of a movie. My grandmother smiled fondly and leaned down, giving the ticket to the ride operator, Mr Salas. Letting go, I rushed to the ride, stopping only to pick which horse to sit on. They were all so beautiful, coming in different colors with’ different expressions ‘on their plastic faces. To me, it felt like the decision of a lifetime.

“Come on, sweetie! The ride is going to start!” my grandmother called out, laughing at my indecision. Seeing that, Mr Salas also smiled warmly. Finally, I picked the horse with the pink hair and blue saddle. In the following minutes, I was absorbed in enjoying the ride, forgetting my family was struggling. My grandmother waved each time the ride passed her by. Mr Salas watched me from a distance.

Sadly, the carousel ride ended much too quickly. My grandmother was waiting and took my hand. I got down from the horse unwillingly, feeling bittersweet.

Kevin was a “slow” boy. He didn’t learn his ABCs as fast as other kids. He never came in first in the schoolyard races. However, Kevin could get along well with other people. And his enthusiasm for life was quite contagious (有感染力的). So, when he discovered that his teacher, Randy Moss, was putting together a basketball team, his mother could only answer, “Yes, you may join.”

Basketball became the center of Kevin’s life. He liked to stand in a certain spot near the free-throw line and shoot baskets. Patiently, he stood there throwing ball after ball.

The day before their first game, Randy gave each player a bright red jersey (运动衫). Kevin had stars in his eyes when he saw his number 12. He quickly put it on and almost never took it off again. Kevin and his whole team truly loved basketball. But just loving the game doesn’t help you win. More balls fell out of the basket than into it, and the boys lost every game that season, except one—the night it snowed. and the other team couldn’t make it to the game.

At the end of the season, they had the misfortune to play against the first-place team-the undefeated first-place team. The game went pretty much as expected, and near the middle of the fourth quarter Kevin’s team stood nearly 30 points behind.

At that point, one of Kevin’s teammates called a time-out. As he came to the side, Randy couldn’t imagine why the time-out had been called. “Mr. Moss, this is our last game and I know that Kevin has played in every game, but he’s never made a basket. I think we should let Kevin make a basket,” said the boy.

With the game completely out of reach, the idea seemed reasonable, so the plan was made. Every time Kevin’s team had the ball, Kevin was to stand in his special spot near the free-throw line and they would give him the ball.

His first shot bounced around but missed.

Soon, all the players threw the ball to Kevin and clapped for him.