I am a proud mother of three children, my last little one being delivered in the middle of this pandemic (疫情). She was born in August and her name is Aida.

Shortly after having Aida, my mother-in-law Ann showed me something she learned from her friend’s mother in an art class she attended weekly, She had showed me how to knit (编织) a scarf.

I spent a lot of time breastfeeding my sweet little girl, so I had some extra time to do something with my hands throughout the day. I enjoyed making the scarf so I purchased tons of yarn (线) since it was winter. I wanted to make scarves for my three children as Christmas gifts.

There was a new family that moved in down the street. The only daughter of the family was Jane, a shy girl, aged 14, the same age of my oldest son David. It seemed that she came from a financially disadvantaged family, for she always wore old clothes. Worse still, in such cold days, she had no more clothes to wear and trembled with cold.

Due to the pandemic, society was thrown into crisis mode. Schools were closed, food supplies and deliveries were suspended and children were stuck at home. In such discouraging time, however, they became good companions, talking and playing at home or around the houses.

It was dreadfully cold this winter. Every time David came back from outside, with red face, he always cried, “Mum, it is freezing outside!” Then, he came over to see whether I finished the scarf. I could tell how impatient he was to wear my scarf sooner! I had to speed the project to satisfy his expectation. But David comforted me by saying he could wait a few days. What a kind and considerate boy he was! Then my great art project finally was accomplished on the morning ahead of Christmas.

Physical and Mental Health

In the faraway land, there was a beautiful kingdom with its unique rule. The rule said, everyone may become the king, with all of his rights to govern the country for five years. After that he must be caught, his body will be tied and he will be thrown away to a remote island where the jungle is thick and there are plenty of wild animals and no human.

Then, one by one, people became the king. The first man said, “OK, I’m ready to be the king.” And he became a king for five years. What he did in his five years was enjoying his position. He threw big parties, went to many beautiful places, married many women, collected many luxurious things and did other things that pleased himself. Those were all he did, and he never prepared anything for his future.

Every other king was the same until a young man came and declared his wish. By the constitution (宪法) he was granted his wish. He would be the king for five years before being thrown away to the island. But he thought that even if he had a happy and free life in the five years, his life as a king would come to an end at last. He was always thinking.

And not very long after that, he made a surprising decision.

Finally, the time came when the king had to be thrown away to the island.

A couple of years ago, just as I did every winter, I bagged up all the items in my closet that I no longer wore, along with the clothes my sons had outgrown. I made a call to action to all of my family and friends, asking them to do the same. It is always my hope to repurpose those things that do nothing more than take up space in our homes, things others might make better use of.

I found an old, ugly pair of hand-woven socks in one of the bags donated (捐赠) by a friend. They were an unpleasant mixture of coloured yam: orange, purple, yellow and blue. I had to decide—garbage or donation? It wasn’t like they were unusable. I imagined they were a home-made gift gone bad.

I put the ugly socks in the garbage, but ten minutes later, I took them back and put them in the donation pile. Later that afternoon, my mother and I drove down to Madison Avenue in downtown Phoenix. Every winter we load up my Jeep with our own cast-offs and the donations from friends, and we take them downtown, along with food and water, to distribute (分发) them to the men and women living on the street. Sometimes I even got my boys involved.

On this particular afternoon, as Mum and I distributed warm clothes and hot food to a small crowd of people outside a local homeless shelter, I reached into the bag and pulled out the last of the donations, the ugly socks. Just as I was about to drop the socks back into the empty bag, laughing at myself for even bringing them along for the ride, a teenage boy came to me.

“Can I please have those socks?” he asked, his blue eyes sparkling in the sun. My eyebrows lifted. I was ashamed to say it but I was still a little embarrassed by the donation and disappointed that we hadn’t anything left to give him except for those socks.

“Of course,” I replied, handing the boy the thick, ugly, hand-woven socks.

“Thank you so much, Ma’am!” he smiled.

Emily White was born seventeen years ago with so many birth problems in her body. Some of her organs, bones and muscles were out of shape. No one expected her to survive. She did make it but with her strange body figure, everyone could recognize her, even from a distance.

In Emily White’s hometown, there was a yearly outdoor performance in the school auditorium (大礼堂). It had been performed for so many years and actually had become one of the most important events of the Christmas season for many of the town’s people.

Many people tried out each year for it, but so many were turned away. It can only include the most excellent people in the field.

Emily had a beautiful singing voice. Last year she went to Mrs. Owens — her music teacher to ask to join in the performance. Without letting her sing, Mrs. Owens took a look at Amy’s body and said, “Child, you just don’t fit. Everyone would stare at you and that would make you uncomfortable. It would make them uncomfortable, too.”

Without singing a single note, Emily was sent back through the door of the choral room. Hurt and upset, she decided never to try out again. But Mrs. Owens then retired.

This year, there came a new music teacher, Mr. Buttler. He heard about Emily and suggested that she have a try.

Emily didn’t want to be rejected again, so she hesitated a little about it. As Emily struggled, the door was pushed open and Mr. Buttler called, “Emily, you’re next.” Although kind of nervous, Emily did as Mr. Buttler told her to do. Mr. Buttler sat by the piano to keep Emily company. When Emily finished her testing performance, she thanked Mr. Buttler and knew the result would be posted on the door of the choral room the next day.

Emily couldn’t sleep that night. She was suffering from the feelings that she didn’t fit and the great need to be accepted. By the next morning, her stomach was even in pain because of stress.

Paragraph 1: The next day, Emily nervously glanced at the list on the door of the choral room.

Paragraph 2: Finally, the day of performance came.

The person I am becoming