Starting to Go Numb

Starting to Go Numb

by Pam Jacobs
Omaha, Nebraska, USA

It was a blustery cold January day in 1978 and college basketball season was in full swing. My manager at work had acquired four tickets to the evening’s game, planning to take his wife, a friend visiting from out of town, and me. Since the game didn’t start until late in the evening, I accepted a friend’s invitation to take in the 5:15 showing of “Star Wars”. After the movie she drove me to the sports complex, where I met my manager and the others.

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Just Come Back Later

Just Come Back Later

by Guy Slater
Tennessee, USA

My wife and I moved to the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee in November of 2005, from a large metropolitan area to a very rural area. While moving we had the help of our adult daughter and our 2-year-old granddaughter.

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Puppy Had Angels Too

Puppy Had Angels Too

by Diane Romberger
Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Last year my husband and I were forced off the interstate at 65 mph in another state by a truck. The truck did not stop and, as we headed down an embankment, the car began to spin and ended up smashed into a stand of trees.

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Honoring Her Choice

Honoring Her Choice

by Alain Fontaine
Ile de France, France

17 years ago, I was a young man with an open mind and a goal: to go to Asia, first to Taiwan and learn Chinese, then to Japan and learn Japanese. I figured that already knowing French and English, I would be on top of the world.

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To Give is To Receive

To Give is to Receive

by Terry Ann Fielding
Brandon,  Mississippi, USA

When I was about 12, my father decided that I needed something constructive to occupy my day; something that wasn’t devoted just to me. At that age I was kind of selfish and felt that the world meant being with girlfriends, dreaming about guys, eating and sleeping. He had other ideas: I was signed up to be a Junior Volunteer at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans.

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A Generous Change of Plans

Generous Change of Plans

by Linda Gavitt
Connecticut, USA

In January 1999 planning for my daughter’s wedding began with a phone call telling me she and John would marry in March — leaving little time to plan! Fortunately Lauren wanted a small wedding with 20-30 close friends and relatives. She was in Orlando, Florida, John was stationed in Kentucky, and I was in Connecticut. Her finance’s family generously offered their help to plan everything, and their Tampa area home for the reception.

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Following a Hunch

Following a Hunch

by The Caroler
California, USA

In 1990, as was our family tradition, my husband and I invited children from the local high school aCappella choir, including our son, to sing Christmas Carols to people we felt could use some special Christmas cheer. My husband dressed up as Santa Claus and drove a rented flat bed truck.

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The Envelope

The Envelope

by Lisa Swindler
South Carolina, USA

In 1998, a week before Thanksgiving, I took our 10-month-old baby daughter to the doctor for a check-up. The nurse commented how well she looked. Fifteen minutes later we were headed to the hospital emergency room. Ruth’s oxygen level was below 90 and she was having difficulty breathing. It was her fourth hospitalization that year.

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The School Bus Driver

The School Bus Driver

By Patty Mooney
California, USA

It’s been many years since I have had to stand on the end of Pusheck Road in Bellwood, a suburb of Chicago, waiting for the school bus, and yet I remember one special day as though it were yesterday.

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Bucking the Crowd

by Jeff Simms
Barnegat, New Jersey, USA

It was a nippy Fall day — our favorite kind of weather. It was Saturday and we were going to have a great time. My divorced mother, two younger brothers and I were on our way to the park at the other end of the small Jersey town we lived in. We had our football and makeshift goal posts in the back of the station wagon and our teams already chosen: us against our mother. (Don’t worry, it was only touch football.)

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