1 . Candles were burning bright, exciting my two-year-old son, Jack, who moved forward to blow them out.

Jack’s third birthday was still a few months away but ever since his dad Gary’s big day earlier that year, my son hadn’t stopped talking about celebrating his own. His ,older brothers Oliver, 6, and Josh, 10, were happy to sing the birthday song with him.

But, over time, I grew concerned that Jack wasn’t well. My lovely boy was now a shadow of his former self. How could I ignore it, though doctors weren’t too concerned?

One day I was at work and shared my fears with a colleague. She comforted me and said it was safe to be careful. When I returned home later, I packed a bag and prepared to take Jack to hospital.

At the hospital, 1just couldn’t shake the feeling that bad news was coming. My suspicions(怀疑) were confirmed. We were told he had a very rare form of cancer.

Jack was going downhill rapidly. Gary and I took it in turns to stay with him in the hospital.“Your birthday’s coming up,”I told Jack each day, hoping he could remember the times we had sung him happy birthday before.

“Jack’s only option is a stem cell transplant (干细胞移植), and a brother or a sister might be the best chance you have.” a doctor told us. “He can have my head if he needs it!” Josh cried. Oliver wasn’t as enthusiastic as his older brother, but it was a huge relief when he was confirmed as a match.

Doctors were cautious about saying Oliver might save Jack’s life in case it didn’t work as planned. To their relief, the result was comforting. They were moved by Oliver’s bravery.

Oliver, now seven, really did save his little brother and they’re now closer than ever.“I didn’t want to do it at the very beginning but at the end I kind of regretted feeling like that because now I know how important it was.” he said.

2 . Making friends at school can be a little difficult — but it doesn’t have to be! Try out a few of these methods to talk to people in your class and hang out with them outside of school. Before you know it, you’ll have a group of friends to have fun with every day!

■友好。

Using proper body language will help, Stand up straight, make eye contact with people, and smile! Try to avoid crossing your arms over your chest and looking closed off. The more open and friendly you look, the more people will want to get to know you.

■在__期间坐在一张新桌子上。

Look for tables with an open seat. If you’re feeling a little nervous, pick a table that only has one or two people sitting down. Head over and ask if you can sit there, then join in on the conversation. If you like the people you sit with, ask if you can join them again the next day.

■尝试运动队。

Pick a sport that you like (it could be soccer, basketball, softball, baseball, or anything in between), and try out for the team. Over time, you could become good friends with some of the other people on your team! If your school doesn’t have a sports team, try looking for one at your local community center.

■加入课后俱乐部。

Meet friends who have the same hobby as you. Ask a teacher or your parents for a list of after school activities and pick 1 or 2 of them that you’re the most excited about. Introduce yourself to everyone when you attend your first club meeting to meet new people and start a fun conversation.

3 . I kept it in a special box and pulled it out when my brother was to arrive with his wife for New Year. I carried it to the dining room and unfolded the white tablecloth. Its colorful embroidery (刺绣) popped to life. The signatures of all the family and friends who’d ever shared a New Year meal at our table were hand-embroidered on top.

I’d started my embroidery New Year tradition 20 years before, since I wanted something that was uniquely ours — something we could look forward to.

The first time I laid out the clean white cloth and asked the kids to sign it, my family looked at me as if I were crazy. Write on the tablecloth we hoped to protect from jam and tea? Yes! And these days, I have grandkids to carry on the tradition. Each year I used a different color embroidery thread, so we could relive the highlights of particular gatherings. I saw my grandkids’ signatures go from scribbles (潦草的字) to print. We added drawings for milestones, such as a baby’s handprint.

The doorbell rang, and I ran to let in my brother, Tom, and his wife. They’d traveled from North Carolina for their first New Year with us. After greetings and hugs, I led them into the dining room. Tom looked wide-eyed at the tablecloth he had seen only in pictures. He gently touched our mom’s signature, and I put my hand on his, “I’m thankful to have started this while she was alive.”

More than something to look forward to, our tradition holds memories to look back on. Everyone we love is at our table when we sit down for New Year.

4 . Living on the Florida Emerald Coast, people view a hurricane as a common thing. So it is not unusual for a family to have several full gas cans and bottled water stored in their houses all summer.

Though unwilling to evacuate from a hurricane, on September 15,my family was forced to leave our home for my grandfather's house several miles away. We spent the early part of that evening watching the hurricane draw closer on the Weather Channel. Around nine o'clock, a loud sound shook the house, turned over the roof and carried it off. Soon came an indoor rainstorm.

Realizing the damage, my grandfather began to be afraid. The storm had started, but he still ran out into the heavy rain and wind to see how much of the roof was left. We got him back inside. I had never seen him so scared. Mom finally asked him to lie down in his room.

The leak had progressed rapidly. It soon became a race against time to protect what was saved. Some people may think it necessary to save material things, but I hoped to save those items with emotional value, such as the photos. I still feared the storm, but I more feared the influence it brought.

The next morning, it started to clear up. Thankfully, my family weathered the storm, though the same could not be said for the house. Only the wooden beams remained, but inside many of his things were safe. My mom and I had worked tirelessly through the night.

It was late, but we were still unwilling to go to bed. We discussed the rebuilding of the house. Under the beautiful sky, we suggested looking after my grandfather more often in the future. After this disaster, I realized the truth that the hurricane itself was not so terrible if we loved each other.

6 . When you sleep somewhere else — like at summer camp or a friend’s house — you know you’re in for a fun time. It can be exciting to get away from the same old bed in the same old room in the same old house. But fun as this is, for some kids being away from home can be scary and sad. They want to go and have fun with their friends, but once they’re there, they start to miss their good old bed, their good old parents, and all that everyday stuff at home. It’s called being homesick (想家的).

Homesick means you’re upset, sad, and maybe scared. But don’t feel surprised. A lot of people get homesick, even grown-ups. When you’re used to having certain people and things around you, it can be scary when they’re gone. When you’re dealing with other problems, you will feel homesick, too. Some kids may feel more homesick than usual if their parents are getting divorced or if someone they loved has recently died.

Here are some ideas to help you feel less homesick.

Bring a little bit of home with you. If you’re going away from home, bring your pillow or pictures of the people you’ll be apart from and look at them any time you want.

Keep busy. The more fun stuff you do, the less time you’ll have to feel homesick. Try to join in activities wherever you are.

Stay in touch. You can make a plan for when you’ll call your mom or dad. You can also email or text message to stay in touch with family and friends. When you do get in touch with someone, make sure to talk about the fun things you’re doing!

Talk to someone where you are. Maybe you can tell a friend that you feel homesick. He or she might have some ideas to help you feel better.

7 . True friends are hard to find. You often think you can believe in someone, but later he or she may let you down.

A true friend is someone who will always be there for you. Through good times or bad times, they will stand by your side.     1     They will accept you without trying to change you. They will bring new and exciting things into your life and make it richer.

    2     They will be honest and you can always believe in them. If you talk to someone who you believe in, you don’t have to worry about what you may say wrong. We can enjoy this freedom only with friends.

    3     To find a true friend you must be a true friend as well. Be there for your friends when they are in need and share the good times with them.     4     Friendship will fall apart quickly if only one person is giving and putting effort into it.

You will find that there is nothing more valuable than having a true friend by your side to share life with. Just as someone puts it “    5    ”

8 . Lucio Arreola is going to have a surprising Father's Day this year. He finds every day is surprising now. Arreola is 50 years old, the father of three daughters and a banking manager in Puerto Rico. On April 20, doctors performed a transplant to implant inside him the heart of a dead 25 year old man whose name he may never know, but to whom he and his family will always be grateful.

Arreola was told he had a heart muscle disease 15 years ago that weakened his breathing and circulation. He went on a series of medications. while he and his wife. Elena raised three daughters. They worried about their father's health. He worried about their happiness.

"I live for them."he said. "I worried if I could do what a father really should do for his children. But I knew if they were going to grow up, they had to treat me like a normal person, not a patient."

"One day up one day down." he said. "Some days dark, some light. But what hap-pens."he says."is that when the sun is out, you really feel it. Every breath is sweet. You see the trees people. You hear your daughters laugh and it's like birds singing. You tell yourself.‘There's no time in life for anything but love.'"

Liz Laguaite, a hospital music therapist(理疗师).told the Arreola family.“Why don't you try to write a song together about what you've been through and what you've learned?"They decided to try. Lucio Arreola had worried that illness might make his daughters see him their father. as weak. But instead of frailty, they mostly saw his courage to live on and positive attitude towards life. And he says their love was his powerful heart that gave him faith. hope and courage.

Arreola says he's learned that human hearts are weak. But a family's love is lasting for a long time. The Arreola family has recorded the song they ereated while Lucio recovers. It begins with the strong beat of a father's loving heart.

9 . There are so many ways to make new friends such as joining a sports team, taking part in community activities, or traveling. And there is no doubt that a friend in need is a friend indeed because he can help you out when you are in trouble or encourage you when you are frustrated (沮丧). Personally, joining a sports team will be my first choice.

The primary reason for this is that everyone in a sports team has the same interest, which is the most fundamental (基础的) character for friends. Because of it, they will become your potential friends so that the chance to be true friends is very high. In addition, the same interest can give you a lot of topics to talk about with your friends in daily conversation.

Another factor that should be taken into consideration is the memory. After you fight for a goal with your partners, it will leave you a good experience, which is necessary for a long-lasting friendship. I used to be a player in the basketball team of my high school. Even though it was five years ago, I can remember all the exciting moments when we fought for the championship as if they happened yesterday. And although we went to different universities, we get together so many times. 

In addition, trust is also an important aspect. As we know, keeping trust is the most important thing in the team because it can make you be together all the time. Furthermore, you can share happiness and sadness with reliable friends and they will make you feel life is beautiful and that the future is bright.

Join a sports team, and your new friends are waiting for you.

10 . At a clinic in Waterloo, Ontario, an elderly woman sat on the edge of a waiting room chair singing “My Heart Will Go On.” With little effort, she was able to send her sweet voice exploding into every corner of the clinic.

There was a lot of shifting in seats, but mainly they awkwardly avoid their eyes and tried to pretend there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. I was there with my father, who was getting a routine blood test, when the woman arrived. She settled into the seat directly across from my Dad. She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

My Dad had been living with Alzheimer’s (阿尔茨海默症) for several years, When he was healthy, he considered it wholly bad mannered to bring too much attention to oneself. Since Alzheimer’s has a tendency to destroy a person’s patience, Dad had experienced a few challenging encounters in the past.

Her singing began gently. I glanced over at Dad. His smile was gone, and he was staring right at her. She was staring back. I couldn’t read his expression, but it seemed to be something like confusion. I watched for any sign of a coming angry outburst. Instead, his face softened, and the tension eased in his brow.

People say that Alzheimer’s is a thief, and that it steals your loved ones slowly, day by day. But certain experiences with my Dad have allowed me to see a side of him that I never knew existed. I will hold on to those moments when he told me tender stories about when he was a child, as if he knew that he didn’t have much time left to show me who he really was. In an unexpected way, that’s what happened for me that day in the clinic. Alzheimer’s sometimes seemed to be peeling back the onion of my Dad’s true self.

When her song ended, the woman opened her eyes. My Dad was still looking directly at her.

“That was beautiful,” he said. And she smiled and said. “Thank you.”