【推荐1】I’m leaving for camp for the next seven weeks. This means no more teens life until I get back. It also means I get a break from reality, my phone, my laptop, and all social media. It’s important to my mind!

My first year at summer camp was when I was 9 years old turning 10. I was excited to be in a new environment. That one year changed me forever. This brings me to today. This will be my seventh summer. I text my friends that camp created a special community for me, one close to my heart. And it taught me how to bond with people. Luckily, I got to know a “big sister”—Jane, such a great role model and cheerleader, sweet, and honest, who is now a senior in college.

This year I’m more excited because I’ll join in a tradition I experienced before. I’m finally going to be a “big sister”. The letter says they feel my love for camp, its tradition, and my enthusiasm. All make up what it takes to be a great role model. It was when that I realized I have to do everything to make sure my “sisters” had the best summer at camp.

Every year when I tell people about the camp, I get either crazy eyes, a look of relief or a look of “what the heck?” Either way, I smile at the response(反应). They don’t understand my connection with camp. Camp is my home away from home and my outlet from reality.

I’ll be busy spending each day in nature, laughing until our stomachs hurt, becoming more present with myself, having no stress, letting go, pressing the reset button, and being in my best self. Summer nineteen is going to be amazing.

【推荐2】When I was first married to my wife, I lived and worked in Ontario, moving from small town to big city as I pursued my career as a radio broadcaster. We have two sons, both of whom were born in Toronto, but they moved, with us, to Ottawa when they were quite young. They grew up there, and then, chasing their own careers, they also moved. One went to Canada's east coast near a city called Halifax and the other headed to the west coast to Vancouver. We had a dilemma; we were left in the middle.

At the time I was still working and my job was in Ottawa. However, as we began to consider retirement we wondered where we should spend our final years. We couldn't be close to both of our children and there was no telling when they might again relocate. For several reasons we settled on a small town on Vancouver Island. At least we were close to one of them. However, he had his sights set on Hollywood and, when an opportunity presented itself, he left Canada and headed south. I helped him move.

So, there we were, and still are, in our little west coast town. We love our little corner of paradise but we have paid a price. We have not been there for some important events such as the births of two of our grandchildren. We have missed watching each of them grow up; we have missed the normal, noisy households that have young people in them. Our home, while very comfortable, is also very quiet.

Every fall we travel to see the children. We usually fly, first to California to see our son Scott and spend a week or more with him trying to catch up on everything we've missed. Then, usually in November, we make the even longer trip east across Canada to see Travis and our grandchildren, who are now teenagers, actually into their twenties. They seldom come to visit us. The distances are just too great and it is costly.

Fortunately, both our boys are doing well and our grandchildren are growing up straight and tall. We love all of them and we are secure in the knowledge that they love us but the reality is that they don't need us. We have done our jobs and, at least in theory, we can sit back, relax and enjoy the time remaining to us. They have also missed having a set of parents and grandparents around.

Life has been good for our family but we have all paid a price.

【推荐1】When asking for money, teens usually spend money in eating and having fun. But Garland Benson, a 14-year-old boy in Austin, Texas, asks for money to help his sister, Christiane.

Garland is trying to raise $1 million to help cover the cost of starting a clinical trial (临床试验) to develop a treatment for Batten disease that can cause blindness. Christiane was found having Batten disease at age 5, and she was 15 in 2018.

“It’s $1 million that I’m going to raise by myself,” Garland told KXAN. “My first goal was to get 100,000 people to give $10 each, and I can do that by spreading it on social media, getting people to donate (捐赠) $10 until 10 people and then keep going like that and finally I’ll get there.”

Garland’s $1 million plan, called “Be a Hero!”, started in February, 2017. He has nearly reached his goal and be has raised $869,525. He has used school projects and even at school-based group of brothers called “Brothers for Batten” who do things like garage sales to raise the money.

Christiane hasn’t allowed Batten disease to keep her from experiencing life. She still goes skiing with her family, rides horses and is a part of her school’s cheerleading squad (啦啦队).

Garland and Christiane’s parents, Charlotte and Craig, started the Beyond Batten Disease Foundation in 2008 in the hope of funding a clinical trial for treatments that may slow the progress of Batten disease. Mom Charlotte is proud of both her kids for doing what they can to help each other and others with Batten disease.

【推荐2】It was Jennifer Williams’s mother who got her hooked in books. A librarian, she read to her three children every day. “Not until we went to kindergarten,” Williams told vadogwood.com, a local news site. “Until we went to college.”

When Williams, now 54, became an elementary school teacher in Virginia, she wanted her students to fall in love with reading just as she had. But early on, she realized that some kids had few chances to read. To Williams, the solution was simple: Give kids books. In 2017, as part of an event called Engage Danville, she gave away 900 used children’s books over three days. Most people would be satisfied with that.

“Anybody could do that,” she said. “I wanted to do something that’s going to stretch my faith, my work ethic, my everything.” So she continued setting a new goal for herself: Give away one million books. It sounds like an impossible number, but as Williams posted on Facebook: “Don’t complain in the bleachers if you aren’t willing to work hard out on the field.”

So she got to work, first by persuading friends to donate books or money to buy books. Before long, as news of Williams’s project spread, strangers started leaving bundles of books on her front door. As quickly as the books come in, Williams gives them to local schools — for free — and also supplies books to little free libraries around the city. She also hosts a book club in the neighbourhood. In the four years she’s been doing all this, Williams has given away more than 78,000 books — only 922,000 more to reach her goal! And she’s not slowing down. It’s too important for kids with few choices.