I was working on a puzzle with my three-year-old granddaughter. It was from a set of puzzles of different shapes and sizes. This one had only eight pieces. Four of the...

In 2019, I was in eighth grade and new to my school. I felt like I had no friends. I was always quiet and alone, even during lunch breaks. One Friday,...

While visiting a friend at his home in rural Vermont, I asked him for the best route back to the interstate highway. He started to give me directions but then paused....

I’ve always loved the English language, but I never considered that passion to be a viable career. I told myself that I needed to finish a degree and find a corporate...

I volunteer at a women’s prison. One of the highlights of my year is the annual Christmas gathering. Inmates and volunteers all pack into a huge gym, sitting side by side...

The cancer center waiting room where I sat was crowded with patients and caregivers. A woman came in pushing a young person in a wheelchair who looked to be her daughter....

While driving home one day, I stopped at a pedestrian crosswalk to let a young girl and her father cross the road. They held hands as she happily skipped along. She...

For several days I had been suffering from joint and lower-back pain. I was constantly grumbling and talking about my physical pain, and I was weighed down with an attitude of...

Years ago I lived in Key West, Florida. One morning we were catching mahi-mahi almost as fast as we could bait the hooks. We realized we had more fish than we...

I had undergone major surgery and was hospitalized for three weeks when we suddenly lost our source of income. We were forced to sell our house in order to avoid being...