1 . I still remember it was some fifteen or sixteen years ago, a warm, sunny, Saturday afternoon. I ________to take my kids to the local playground. As soon as we got there my daughter headed for the ________ and asked for a play. As I was helping her to go higher and higher, I noticed another little girl trying ________ together own swing going. Her elderly grandmother was sitting ________ on a nearby bench and smiled at me.

I gave my daughter one big ________ and then walked over to the little girl and asked if she wanted a favor. She smiled and said “Yes!” I soon had her feet ________ towards the clouds while she laughed happily. For the next two hours I found myself playing on the swings and hiding and seeking with my son, daughter, and the other little girl. By the time we went home, I was ________ worn out, but my spirits was still flying higher than those swings.

Two years later I was ________ again after a long day’s work. Still, I needed to ________ my kids from the local grade school before going back home. I stood wearily in the ________ waiting area watching for my children. Suddenly, I felt two tiny arms wraparound my ________ I looked down and there was the little girl from the playground smiling up at me. She gave me one more big hug before ________off to catch her school bus. As I watched her back, I didn’t feel quite so tired anymore and my spirits were once again flying in the Heavens.

In this life every single bit of love we share ________ its way back to us again. It may travel from heart to heart or it may blossom in the soul where it was planted. It may take seconds or it may take years. The law of love, ________, is never broken. What we give, we get back, we reap what we sow. The love we share, the kindness we give, and the _________ we create will always comeback to bless us.

An odd thing happened to Arthur when he was on the way to work one day. As he walked along the First National Bank, he heard the sound of someone trying to start a car. He tried again and again but couldn’t get the car moving. Arthur turned and looked inside at the face of a young man who looked worried. Authur stopped and asked “It looks like you’ve got a problem,” Arthur said.

“I’m afraid so. I’m in a big hurry and I can’t start my car.”

“Is there something I can do to help?” Arthu asked. The young man looked at the two suitcases in the back seat and then said, “Thanks. If you’re sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble, you could help me get these suitcases into a taxi.”

“No trouble at all. I’d be glad to help.” The young man got out and took one of the suitcases from the back seat. After putting it on the ground, he turned to get the other one. Just as Arthur picked up the first suitcase and started walking, he heard the long loud noise of an alarm (警报).

It was from the bank. There had been a robbery (抢劫)!

Now the air around the bank was filled with the sound of an alarm and the shouts of people running from all directions. Cars stopped and the passengers joined the crowd in front of the bank. People asked each other, “What happened?” But everyone had a different answer.

Arthur, still carrying the suitcase, turned to look at the bank and saw a young woman walking towards him. She looked at the suitcase and then at him. Arthur was surprised, “Why is she looking at me like that?” He thought. “The suitcase! She thinks I’m the bank robber!” He became frightened, and without another thought, he started to run.

As he was running with the suitcase, Arthur heard the young man shouting behind, “Stop, stop! My money”,

Arthur seized (抓住) this opportunity to catch the young man and took him to the nearby police station by car.

3 . Devon Gallagher, a college graduate from Philadelphia, wants the world to know exactly where she’s been during her worldwide vacation in a special way.

The traveler, who was born with a congenital bone disease (先天性骨病), had her right leg amputated (截肢) at the age of four. Although the amputation caused misfortune for Gallagher early on, she now sees it as an inspiration for living her best life.

To spread that message, Gallagher has taken to social media, where she shares photos of her travels around the world. Besides, she writes her location across her artificial leg (假肢) before taking a picture.

Now she has been taking pictures across Europe, which show her cycling over the canals in Amsterdam, relaxing on a wall overlooking the city of Barcelona, posing with a waffle (华夫饼) in Brussels, taking breath-taking pictures in Athens and enjoying a river cruise (巡航) in Budapest, with all the well-known locations written on her artificial leg.

“I get a new leg every two years and I can choose the design on it. One day I had a sudden idea to get a chalkboard (黑板),” Gallagher said. “My mum and grandmother didn't like the idea, but my friends thought it was great and told me to go for it, so I did.”

Gallagher said people often stare when she’s writing on her leg, but once she shared the photos, she received only positive comment. “My leg hasn't stopped me doing anything I’ve wanted to do, I know it’s my determination to prove to myself that I can do it. Therefore, I’ve been able to keep up with my peers (同龄人) and lead a pretty great life.”

Gallagher shows us that you should never let anything stand in the way of your dreams. If life gives you an artificial leg, make art.

The Making of a Believer

It was Christmas Eve morning, and I awoke with a mission: to find my lost cat, Baby-Girl, who is chubby and cute, fond of sitting in her one-and-only spot near the nearth (壁炉). AS I got ready, I could hear icy rain pouring down. I said a quick prayer for Baby-Girl. She was out there somewhere in the storm, I could just feel it. Sure, it had been six months since she’d gone missing, but I still had faith. It was the season for miracles, after all.

That summer, my sweet cat had disappeared from my parents’ house in Indiana. Baby-Girl had been staying with them. At the time, I lived and worked in Washington, D.C. Baby-Girl had gotten out of my parents’ house three days before I was set to fly back home to pick her up.

My dad and I spent that entire visit searching for her. Dad was the family’s resident “realistic”, which mean the spent a whole lot of time trying to prepare me for the worst. She’s either been hit by a car or been taken in by someone who found her” he said. I rolled my eyes. Dad always supported me, but he was so skepticat. He could do with a little more faith!

Besides, though I couldn’t explain it, I knew I’d see her Baby-Girl again. If any cat could do the impossible, it was my Baby-Girl. Even after T returned to D.C. without her and the weeks stretched into months, deep down I had this feeling that we’d be reunited.

How, home again for the holidays, I was de tem mined to pick up my search. I grabbed Baby-Girl’s cat carrier and loaded it into the car, then persuaded Dad to drive me to the shelter, hoping she’d been found.

“Sharon, you have to be realistic,” my dad said as we headed to the garage. “She’s been gone too long. You’re not going to find her.”

“Well, I just have a feeling,” I said

Dad raised an eyebrow a she climbed into the driver’s seat to take me to the shelter.

5 . By now, most of us have picked up at least one pandemic (疫情期间的) hobby. And there’s a seemingly common pandemic hobby trend: People who haven’t been able to go anywhere are making imaginary travel plans. Maybe you’re among those who have spent hours researching locations―even though you’re not actually planning to travel.

It turns out that you aren’t alone. People who seem to be interested in public safety recommendations are still planning trips they don’t intend to book. And, when I suddenly found myself addicted to an imaginary girls’ trip to Joshua Tree, I wondered whether this was a healthy distraction (注意力分散).

“It’s an escapist imagination,” said Regine Galanti, a psychologist, adding that there’s nothing wrong with escapism during a global pandemic.

On the one hand, distractions are often beneficial right now. We are a full year into living with COVID-19 as a pandemic, and that means you’ve probably had to navigate a range of emotions like discomfort, sadness, or even boredom. So any hobby that doesn’t harm anyone or endanger your well-being is probably a worthy attempt.

Even if vacation planning is your happy place, Dr. Galanti suggests you “actually think about what you’re trying to achieve.” Why? “Maybe what you’re saying is, I need a vacation from work,” Dr. Galanti explains. “Then take three days off even if you are not going anywhere. “When you figure out what you’re looking for, you might be able to find a small socially distanced adventure in your backyard or a quiet place. Vacation planning is a good way to spend some time, but there might be an even better way to get what you’re desiring.

Anyway, when uncertainty is all around us, creating things to look forward to isn’t a terrible idea. And when things are safer, you’ll have all your plans in place.

7 . Most people who ran the marathon last month spent days before resting up and days after recovering. But not Jacky Hunt-Broersma. In total, she ran 104 marathons in 104 days. If it’s confirmed by Guinness World Records, that would be a new world record. And she did it all with one leg and a prosthesis (假肢).

“Someone able-bodied had done it previously. I wanted to see if I could do it on a prosthetic leg and see what would happen,” she said. “I thought it would be a great way to inspire others to push their limits because I truly believe that we’re stronger than what we think. And I’ve been so pleasantly surprised that my body is held up, everything is held up and I’ve made it to 104.”

She actually did not pick up the sport until after she lost the lower part of her left leg in 2001 to a type of cancer called Ewing sarcoma. Runners using a prosthetic leg can’t use a regular one. They need a running blade (刀锋式跑步义肢). Hunt-Broersma has two, but she was only able to run with one because of the swelling she experienced in her left leg that made it impossible to connect to the other blade. But even with the pain that occurred, she has been able to put up with it and continued.

All together, Hunt-Broersma ran over 4, 385 kilometers. During that time she has had a lot of time to think and has learned a few things about herself. “It has taught me how strong one can be and how important absolute determination is. If you’re mentally strong, you can do anything,” she said. “And our bodies are just amazing ... This whole journey was impressive and super hard, but it’s told me how strong I can be as a person and how far I can push myself.”

9 . A mom makes mini-me toys as unique as the children who embrace them.

Asa ________ worker using play therapy to help children through their cancer treatment, Amy wished she could ________ her patients with dolls that bore their all-too-familiar hair loss and surgery scars.

________ Amy left welfare work in 2011 to start a family, she still often thought of the kids. She said, “These kids need something that looks like they do.” This idea had always ________   in her mind.

Then in 2020, a mom whose daughter lost a leg to amputation (截肢) asked Amy, who was ________ with a sewing machine, if she could make a mini-me dol for the girl.

After Amy ________ a photo of the legless doll on Facebook,   ________ poured in for likeness with everything from albinism (白化病) to birthmarks. “ ________ make kids feel isolated and judged,” she says, “With the doll, a child sees ‘I am not the only one who looks this way and I’m also ________ enough to be a doll.’ ”

Amy _________ nearly 400 custom dolls at her dining-room table, with donors often covering the 100 cost through Amy’s nonprofit A Doll Like Me. The mom of three ________ making each doll herself with help from her mother and a friend.

For Keagan. 2, whose rare skin condition has ________ him in birthmarks, Amy matched the doll’s ________ exactly. “That was the most amazing thing,” says Keagan’s mom. A farther says, “I ________ like a baby when a doll came in the mail for my daughter, who was born without her lower left arm. Seeing my daughter with her doll, it makes me think about her future, not her ________ .”