1 . Little Rohan was standing by the door with a bag on his shoulders and a hat on his head. He didn’t want to leave the________. “Mom, do we have to go?”

“Yes, Rohan, we have to,” Rashmi________as she picked up the car keys.

Rohan was________of water ever since he almost drowned(淹死) during a swimming class. Rashmi knew her son had to face his________.But as they drove to the beach, Rohan started making________.He opened his bag and________to look for something. “Mom, I think I left my sunglasses. Can we go back and get it?”

“Check it again,” she pointed at the bag.

“Yes, found them,” he looked________.

When they reached, Rashmi found a good________and sat under the shade. “Why don’t you go play? I am right here,” she said.

Rohan________his shoes, tiptoed (踮脚走) into the water carefully and________a little further in. Suddenly, a big________came and swept him off his feet. Rohan tried to scream________all useless. He had a bigmouth of seawater. Only when his hands touched the sand beneath the water, he ________he was safe. He rose to his feet, and at the same time drove away his fear of water.

While his mother was standing there, with a worried________on her face, Rohan_______ran towards her, “Mom, come to the water with me. It’s so much fun.” That day was a new beginning for Rohan. He was no longer afraid of water.

Leo had gone nowhere during his two-week vacation. He had the money, but he hated to travel alone. He used to take vacations with Max, his younger brother, but they had a big argument at the end of their last vacation. Each of them had spent the last two months waiting for the other to apologize.

Leo did not feel good about being distant with his favorite brother. But he was not going to ask for forgiveness when, in his mind, he just broke Max’s cup by accident, but it was not a big deal at all. So Leo's summer vacation was spent in his own "back yard". As usual, he cleaned up his apartment , put away his books, trying to make his life busy and full.

However, he did do one thing new and different alone. He went to a new coffee shop at the corner. It served delicious coffee at reasonable prices, and the staff were quite friendly.

The vacation seemed endless. He always sat at a coffee table outside by himself and read the free daily paper. Each day he was there, reading most of the newspaper articles and drinking his coffee black with the question crossing his mind again and again: What was Max doing?

Leo was unhappy. Between articles, he took breaks by watching the nearby traffic and pedestrians(行人). The coffee shop was next to a huge park, the favorite place for both Max and him where they even spent a whole summer vacation battling for the same soccer team. They   were champion of the town! The coffee shop, with its excellent location and coffee, had helped make his vacation a pleasant one. If his brother should be there to join him just one day, his vacation would be perfect, he imagined.

One morning, accidentally knowing from mom the cup he broke was a gift from their late grandma, Leo was deeply sorry. He tried to break the ice and smiled to Max at the breakfast table but got no response. Leo was still unhappy.

Then Leo decided that he should do something more. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Leo got to the coffee shop early. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5 . The first time I saw Kai, she was sitting in my front yard, hugging my dog Harley. She and her husband Sean had just moved into a small house down the road from us. I think she was drawn to Harley’s friendly personality, just as he was drawn to hers. From the moment I talked to her, I knew Kai would make a good friend. Her smile and good cheer made me feel better just being around her. Her voice was always full of happiness.

It didn’t take long before Kai was beloved by everyone in our neighborhood. Children and adults visited her home often. Although she already had four cats, she also adopted a dog. When we visited her, she would kindly listen to all of our troubles and then say something so wise that we would leave her home with our hearts singing. Sometimes I would read the stories I wrote to her and she would always encourage me to keep writing.

All of this time, though, Kai was slowly dying from cancer. She told me the first time we talked that she was terminal. But she lived each day with such cheer that I often forgot just how ill she was. Still, she died on a cold winter day with heavy snow falling down.

During the short time we had together, I learned so much from Kai about how to truly live. She taught us so many lessons about kindness, happiness, hope and cheer.

7 . In June of 2021, during the pandemic, the hospitals in New York City were crowded with healthcare workers and a group of nurses flying from the West Coast to lend a hand. One of the young nurses was assigned a mother of six children. She was on a ventilator (呼吸器), quarantined (隔离) from her husband and frightened. The young nurse, Carly, decided to cheer her up by bringing a group of nurses together to sing “My Girl.” With a tube in her throat and needles in her arm, the young mother cried and raised a few fingers to say thank you.

With a simple hand gesture, the mother expressed her gratitude. “That little thank you changed me forever,” Carly says. “I went because I wanted to make a difference. I came home, grateful for what I learned.”

Gratitude moves us to be kinder. A woman who lost her husband during the pandemic felt lonely. Her neighbors, grateful for over 50 years of friendship, expressed their gratitude by delivering a box of fresh produce to her house every Monday during lockdown. It’s our gratitude that becomes the power to create good acts.

In the early morning quiet, when we are awakened by the uncertainty of the coming day, we can find peace by mentally listing the things we are grateful for. And we reach a new place in our life that we accept and appreciate. What’s next is to share. Send a thank-you note. Make a call. Look around. There is always someone to thank. By doing so, we become something new that makes a difference to someone’s life.