1 . I always seemed to be running late and hurrying up. I’d wake up early in the morning in order to have enough time to get to where I wanted to go. But by the time I found myself on the road, I was clearly going to be late.     1     This constant rush entered every area of my life. For example, when I went shopping, I’d race up and down the passage.

Then one day when going to work, I had been running behind again. Unluckily, on the way, my car was out of gas. As my car left the road, I looked at my watch. It’s clear that I’d be late.     2    I had a meeting in fifteen minutes and I hadn’t finished preparing for it.

But as I looked out towards the east, the sun was just beginning to climb out of the hill. There was fog hanging over the river and some ducks were swimming across the glass-like surface of the water. A few boats sat on the river, which was shining in the sunshine.     3    

I was surprised. This pretty scene had been going on right outside my car every morning.     4    I had been rushing around in such a hurry to not miss anything that I had been missing everything!

    5    I understood I needed to set schedules and made good preparations for big events in case of any hurry. More importantly, I should try to stay relaxed and enjoy present life. And there was no need to worry about unimportant things. Now I am here traveling this life joyfully and patiently.

2 . While many people prefer to buy a new dog from a breeder, another option is to adopt a rescue dog. As the Svilicics already had a healthy daughter Charlotte, they felt fortunate enough to save another life. Thus, Catherine adopted a dog and named it Khan. Catherine was hopeful this would provide valuable lessons for her baby, such as sharing, learning to love and responsibility to care for animals.

They trained Khan during the first few days and everything began smoothly. Charlotte and the new dog made a habit of playing out in the backyard. However, things were different this day. They began running through the backyard grass together. That was until Khan’s temperament seemed to change dramatically. Khan began acting wildly aggressively (富于攻击性的), grabbing the baby.

This was not the normal play between the two. Mouth open, Catherine watched in complete and utter shock. She watched as Khan tossed (抛) Charlotte across their lawn. What happened next alarmed Catherine and everyone present. He tightly clenched his jaws into her diaper to toss her back and forth. Therefore, with urgency, she ran to Charlotte and carried her to safety.       

Miraculously, her child was unharmed. While Catherine brought her baby to shelter, Khan barked madly and then collapsed. The dog began crying. No one understood what was going on! Khan was obviously not doing well. The dog continued crying and then fell lifeless. Catherine focused on the dog, watching his dying eyes and realized he had been protecting her child. It turned out that Khan was protecting Charlotte from a poisonous, dangerous snake. She used all her strength to bring the dog to her car and sped for the vet, hearing his breath slow. When the vet took over, Catherine cried and felt totally helpless, so she prayed for his recovery.

The vet had to remove all the snake poison from the body. Quite a few days later, Khan was slowly getting stronger through the vet’s effort. Eventually, he made progress and the snake’s venom was removed. Actually, Khan impressed even the vet with his rapid recovery and progress.   

The whole family could be reunited once again with this amazing and heroic animal. Catherine was determined to protect this amazing animal as if it were her own child.