1 . Decades ago, I traveled alone for the first time in my life. The trip to Colorado was not for business or family reasons, but just to travel and ________.

As I prepared for it, I felt excited and ________ at the same time. Would it be fun? Would I be bored? Would I stay in bed all day or would I jump with excitement to do the next thing? I wasn’t ________. Little did I know that it was going to be so ________ a journey of self-discovery.

As a good wife and mom, for me, travel is always about the ________: Always thinking of who would ________ what. Because it’s about family time. But when travel ________, who would I connect with? What would I do? Well, I found that I got to do anything I ________!

While traveling, I met locals and also other ________. Honestly, I had conversations ________—on planes, while hiking, in restaurants.

It was quite a(n) ________ experience to meet a mom of 18 kids and hundreds of adopted kids, a cookie baker, and an internationally ranked marathon runner. The inspiring stories I discovered were ________ and nothing was like my wonderful and ________ life at home. I got to go rock climbing by myself, go hiking solo, and eat ________. And it was all ________, going smoothly. Actually, I felt surprisingly ________.

It was just me, my SUV and my backpack for a week. ________, it was a breath of fresh air that I didn’t ________ existed. It’s wonderful to be back home and know that possibilities are ________ and there is so much more out there to ________ and discover!

3 . In March 2022, I was recovering from an operation for breast cancer and going through a terrible time. I spent my days at home ________ everything to myself. Then one of my colleagues suggested ________, “Why don’t you pick a couple of days and go to Ireland and escape?” I ________ the tip.

The trip was fun, but when I got on the ________ to go home, I wasn’t feeling well. My plan was to sleep for the ________ journey, but the guy next to me looked ________, eager for a conversation because he had kind eyes.

“I had an operation,” I said ________. “I had breast cancer.” He paused for a moment and said, “What’s wrong with that? Breast cancer is just a small ________ of your life, like going to college or getting married.”

I could feel my eyes ________ up with tears.

“Don’t think too much of your problem,” he said. “Instead, think about how many people you could help.”

I had tears coming down my face, and said, “I can’t ________ I’m crying in front of you. I don’t ________ know you.”

“Look, you have a ________ in life,” he said. “You can either ________ your things deep in your pockets and take them to your grave (坟墓), or you can help someone.”

I’ve not been a very outgoing person, and except the few people who needed to know, I’d kept my illness ________. I didn’t want to be ________ as a defective (有缺陷的) person.

But this man, whose name was Ken Duane, showed me that my illness gave me ________, because it gave me the ability to ________ someone else’s load. I decided at that moment that I was going to try to help others by sharing my story ________, in the hope of inspiring those who were in the same or similar situation. Later that year, I talked about my illness and my ________ with Ken on air.

I am forever ________ that I never took a nap on the flight over the Atlantic.

4 . It was the second day of a winter holiday in Queenstown, New Zealand, three years ago. When we decided to explore the beautiful scenery, our landlady _________ us, “Make sure you are well dressed up today. The weather is _________. Head back when you see snowfall.”

The day was bright and sunny, and I started to wonder if she was being too _________. When snow began to fall at 6:00 pm, I was not worried, thinking we’d have no _________ in catching a taxi back. However, we waited for a while, and all the drivers _________ their heads when told of our _________.

The first driver passed by and gave me a card with a number for me to _________ help. I was filled with _________, but I had no choice but to lead my three sisters to a nearby place to make the _________. Then a taxi __________ up and we got in. The driver did not appear very __________. Then the light streaming(光线)from his headlights showed very __________ why no taxi wanted to take us to our hotel. And I began to understand the driver’s apparently unfriendly silence—he was __________. The steep incline(斜坡)ahead was __________ with snow. The taxi slowly made its way up the hill. Suddenly, we came to a dead __________, and the driver turned to us. “Look! It is very __________ to go forward. You have to get out and walk. If I drive any __________, the taxi will slide back,” he said. “Er…can you keep your headlight on? The rest of us will __________ you up,” I said. The driver __________.

We made it safely back to our hotel. Even though it __________ for the rest of the days, we could see the silver lining in the cloud(一线希望): the generous soul who helped us.