【推荐1】Some of us love to buy a little treat every now and then. Others? They can’t help but order something nearly every day of the week. However, there was a different kind of package about to arrive at this door as this woman’s birthday meant one thing: a wonderful cake.

Emily and Mac have been together for the last 19 years and have been married for 12. Although Emily admitted the pair have a strong relationship, she said that Mac hasn’t always been the best at buying gifts. Apparently, he doesn’t usually plan any surprises.

Mac soon realized there were more and more parcels turning up at their door, and there was only one person to blame: Emily. It looks as though her online spending habits had gotten out of control. Little did Emily know, but this was the start of a grand idea.

Emily came home to find a new package on her doorstep. Only this time, it wasn’t an Amazon box, but a birthday cake! Emily was completely fooled by the cake thanks to the realistic packaging tape and posting note, but soon realized the truth when she cut into the side.

In fact, Emily was so impressed with the creation that she wanted to meet the bakery behind the cake. That was none other than the Sweet Dreams Bakery of Dunn. Amazingly, the cake cost only $50, but the thought behind the design meant everything to Emily.

Sometimes, it can feel as though our partners are never listening to what we have to say. However, they occasionally notice things about us that even we didn’t realize. Emily’s online shopping might have seemed normal, but it was the start of the greatest cake design she’d seen.

【推荐2】Lamar Giles is the author of several praised novels and short stories for young adults. His most recent novel is called The Getaway (Scholastic Press, 2022).

I recently spoke with Giles via video. Born and raised in Virginia, he has had a passion for writing, he told me, since he was a child. “It was just amusing to me,” he said.

Growing up in Hopewell, Giles experienced poverty and racism. He recalled a frightening moment when he and his friends were stopped by police officers. “They were pulling out really big, scary weapons,” Giles recalled, “threatening us for no reason, other than the fact that we were young, Black children.”

When Giles was in his early 20s, he met professional authors who showed him that he could make a living doing what he loved. At age 21, he saw one of his stories published in a little-known magazine. It took another decade for Giles to write and publish his first novel.

The challenges Giles met with when growing up proved to be a catalyst (催化剂) for his writing. “When something scares me, I’ll write about it,” he said. “If I write a story around it, it makes me feel better about the fear and anxiety.”

The author’s thriller (惊险小说) for young adults, Fake ID (Amistad Books for Young Readers, 2015), tells the story of Nick Pearson. The character, who is Black, faces racial profiling in his hometown, as Giles did. Nick is suspected of committing a crime because of his race and his “shady” neighborhood. In one scene, he is held at the county jail after being falsely accused by a governor of a state.

Giles is also a co-founder of We Need Diverse Books. The nonprofit organization promotes diversity initiatives in the publishing industry, supporting authors whose stories are often ignored. The goal, Giles said, is to enable all kids to see themselves in the books they read.

【推荐3】Lexi weighed 392 pounds and she has been trying to lose weight since she was a child, and it has always been difficult. She has always lost weight, but it has always come back. Her husband Danny weighed 280 pounds. The couple was ready for whatever difficulties might appear because of their desire to be healthy and happy for the first time in their lives.

Lexi and Danny were meant to be together. When they first started dating, Danny didn’t care about Lexi’s appearance and he fell in love with her wonderful personality (性格). Fortunately for Danny, Lexi felt the same way about him. Unfortunately, they chose one unhealthy lifestyle after another. They were in love, but they weren’t healthy together.

Danny and Lexi were both overweight, so they had a limited active life. They stayed in most nights and watched TV because they couldn’t go hiking or biking. Lexi was the first to realize that a big lifestyle change needed to happen. She was a cheerful and positive person, and she desired to live a long life. Danny wasn’t fond of exercising and eating well in the beginning. But it was fortunate that he cared more about supporting his wife than keeping his bad habits.

“We got tired of the life we were living, and we couldn’t do the things we wanted to do together as a couple,” Lexi says. She wanted to go on romantic walks with her husband, among other things. They felt that unless they took control of their health, they would never be able to do so.

Danny supported Lexi every step of the way and lost a lot of weight in the first year after changing his lifestyle, but he kept fighting even after his progress slowed down, like his wife. Their love has grown even stronger since they both went through this experience together. If you want to improve your health, having your loved one join you might just save your life! That’s what happened to these two lovebirds.

【推荐2】The first thing Megan Warfield did was get out of her damaged car. Returning home from an event in honor of her late father, Warfield’s car was involved in a pile-up collision in Baltimore, MD, where she is a volunteer firefighter. Noticing that one of the other cars had overturned, Warfield rushed to help calm the woman trapped inside.

“I started to climb in there with her, but then I was like, ‘What are you doing? You’re ninemonths pregnant,’” she said. “I ended up holding onto her to keep her in place because I wasn’t sure of her injuries at the time.”

Megan Warfield was “just a week or so shy of her due date” when the crash occurred. And the crash apparently sent her into labor.

Ignoring increasingly painful contractions (收缩), Warfield kept the trapped woman calm and ensured that she stayed in place so as not to risk worsening any injuries. When the emergency responders arrived, among them was Volunteer Paramedic Josh Daugherty, Warfield’s friend. Daugherty gave aid not only to the injured woman but sent Warfield by ambulance to hospital, where, several hours later, she gave birth to her third child.

According to the US Fire Administration, of the active firefighting personnel, more than half, 53 percent, are volunteer firefighters. A volunteer firefighter is an unpaid professional who saves people from fires and other emergency situations. They’re in charge of responding to emergency calls, putting out and preventing the spread of fires, and administering first aid to people with injuries. They may help keep people safe during and after house and building fires, car accidents, forest fires, and dangerous material incidents. All volunteer firefighters must pass strict training to become qualified.

While she was pregnant, Warfield worked at the desk in her volunteer fire department. Now that she’s given birth, she is already planning her return to the field.