Rich Danieu, a man awaiting a heart transplant (移植), had to stay in Strong Hospital in Rochester, New York, since January. His days were filled with uncertainty, medical procedures, and a longing to be with his family. The slim hope of getting cured had almost driven Danieu’s mood down to the ground. He was close to giving up. What’s worse, he was frustrated at the thought of missing a crucial event: his 5-year-old daughter Mara’s school’s father-daughter dance.

Shortly after Danieu’s arrival at the hospital, Mara had excitedly shared the news of her school’s upcoming father-daughter dance. She had been eagerly looking forward to her father’s participation. But Danieu’s illness had kept him away from his daughter’s joyous event. As the day of the dance drew near, Mara’s excitement began to be replaced by a deep sadness. “My daughter was a little upset, for I couldn’t go with her,” Danieu said to a nurse with a heavy heart.

Mara’s grandfather stepped in to take her to the dance, hoping to make the evening special for her. They both got dressed up, arrived at the school hall, and even had a beautiful photo taken. However, for Mara, something was wrong, because she noticed everybody else was with their dads. Excitement gave way to disappointment. On their way home, Mara was walking silently, without saying a word, when her grandfather received a call from the hospital.

The nurses at Strong Hospital had been closely following the family’s story. Having witnessed what Danieu was experiencing due to missing such a crucial moment in his daughter’s life, they decided to do something. They knew they couldn’t make a big change, but they could certainly create a moment of magic. On the night of the dance, with delicate care, they transformed an empty hospital room into a magical dance floor, complete with twinkling lights and soft music playing in the background.

At the same time, Danieu lay in his hospital bed, a sense of disappointment at his heart. When he was gazing out the window, a nurse came in with a warm smile.

Led to the room, Danieu didn’t know what awaited him.

That special dance brought great strength and hope to Danieu.

My mom is the greatest morn ever! As I grew up, I saw her as my hero for all the things she would do for me. I remember she would fix my baby dolls and help me color pretty pictures when I started elementary school. I remember in middle school, I would see her do things that fathers were supposed to do, like fixing the car without caring how greasy her hands would get. Now that I’m in high school, I see how she is strong but sensitive at the same time. She looks at life with a positive attitude no matter what the situation is.

One day I came home from school and saw papers on the kitchen table and my mom sitting with a worried face looking at my dad. My dad wasn’t working at the time because he had broken his leg. I had heard my parents talk about money issues a couple of times before, but I never asked about the situation.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“We have to be out of the house in two weeks,” my morn said. She had her elbows (肘部) on the table and one hand over her forehead. Then I realized this was a serious problem. That very day, she made phone calls and started to look for a place to rent.

We had no money and no idea what we were going to do. I read the papers on the table, which said we had lost the house because we hadn’t been paying the rent. I was surprised that all this was going on. My dad seemed to be doing nothing about it and my mom never said anything about it. It seemed like everything was falling apart, but my mom seemed as if this was making her stronger.

That whole week she tried her best to find a place for rent.

“We are starting to move today,” she said with a smile on her face.

It was a lovely summer morning, and all the world was bright and fresh, filled with pleasant smell of flowers and trees. How sweet!

Allen’s heart was overflowing with joy at the thought of his daughter, Jessie. “She is just as lovely and shining as the sunshine.” he said to himself.

As a father of a young daughter, Allen was always employed in making the ends meet and hardly could he spare time for his daughter. Today, he turned off the phone, setting aside a whole for the joy of parenthood in the park.

On arriving at the park, Jessie ran through the pathways, giggling for all the fun it was to run in such green grass. The deep-green tree leaves shone in the summer morning breeze and the birds and butterflies danced in the air as if saying: “Allen, you have a perfect daughter!” Allen chased after the little angel, heart filled with happiness.

Suddenly, Jessie discovered a vendor(小摊贩) selling apples. She turned around, using her puppy eyes and adorable face to beg her father to buy an apple. Allen didn’t bring a lot of money but it was enough to buy two apples. So he bought two apples for his daughter without any hesitation, thinking “she deserves everything I could afford.”

Jessie held an apple in each hand excitedly. And at the same time, Allen lowered himself, joking: “Would you like to share an apple with Daddy?” Out of Allen’s wildest expectation, hearing this, his daughter quickly took a bite from an apple before her father spoke anything more. Unbelievably, she then also bit the other apple. The father was speechless, frozen with sadness on the spot, not knowing what to do next. He wanted to know what mistakes he had made in raising children, making his dear daughter so greedy. His heart was filled with deep sorrow. “Maybe I just thought too much. My daughter is too young to understand sharing and giving.” Allen tried to comfort himself but with the smile disappearing from his face.

After several more bites, however, Jessie held an apple in one hand, saying “father, eat this one.”

Though with a guilty heart, his smile returned.

Grandma tried to straighten out her fingers. “Jessica, I think I am done knitting (编织),” she said. “My fingers just won’t do what I tell them any more.” I looked at Grandma’s hands, remembering that she had taught me how to knit gloves for my dolls since I was little and that her hands had been sure and strong whatever she had knitted. Grandma had always said that I was very good with her knitting needles and balls of yarn (纱线).

But this winter she could hardly bend her fingers. The doctor said Grandma had arthritis (关节炎), suggesting she should keep her hands warm. I made her cups of tea to hold and moved her chair closer to the fire. However, her fingers were still difficult to move.

I wasn’t used to seeing Grandma’s hands so still. In the morning, her hands were still in her lap. In the evening, her quiet hands even made her voice stay still. I tried to help her find her voice. “Grandma, tell me about when you were a little girl like before,” I begged, knowing she loved to tell interesting stories of her nine brothers and sisters and herself during their childhood. “That was so long ago, Jessica,” whispered Grandma. “I can barely remember.”

This winter there were no hats with matching gloves or soft sweaters knitted by Grandma. But I missed her voice more than those. What about her sister Olga giving their snowman a bath in hot water? What about her brother Peti cutting off her doll’s beautiful hair and then hiding it? Were those words still moving silently in her head?

After dinner, Grandma fell asleep in her rocking chair. Mom sorted through our knitting items, among which an old pair of gloves caught my attention. The gloves were Grandma’s favorite ones with the names of Grandma and her nine brothers and sisters on the fingertips. Each time she wore them, all her happy childhood memories would become very interesting stories in her mouth.

The gloves gave me an idea.

“Grandma, shall we knit a new pair of gloves?” I asked hopefully.

My dad got a new job. We had to pack up and move away from everything we were familiar with. There were so many changes. We came from the north, and now we were almost as far south as possible. We landed in South Florida, and we were total strangers. We moved over during the summer vacation, so I didn’t have to deal with school right away. Summer passed by while we unpacked, arranged furniture, found stores we liked, and adapted to the Sunshine State.

School was coming, and I was afraid of it. I was not an adventurous person. Being shy and quiet, I read a lot and did not make friends easily. My head was filled with fears and worries. Would I make friends? Would If it in? Would I survive in this strange new world? Anyway, there I was, attending a new school full of people I didn’t know.

I had a difficult time adapting to the new school. However, I still loved learning and reading. I even loved homework, and I was good at doing my homework. Loving books and reading helped me to get good grades. Teachers loved that about me. Other kids, though, did not. Although I always answered questions in class, I seldom talked with my classmates. I was unpopular. I felt like a total failure and nobody would like me.

The none day, at all boy walked over to me after an English class. He introduced himself and told me he was in the school basketball team. I knew him—he was the star player! “Hey,” he said. “You do really well in English class. And you know, my teammates and I spend much time competing and practicing. The subjects, especially English, really bother us. Do you think you could help us?” “Yes. Oh, definitely yes. I could, and I would,” I replied with surprise. We made the deal with an exchange of smiles.

Something gradually changed after that.

Meanwhile, the basketball players taught me how to play basketball.