Harry Potter, a pirate, a baseball player and a gentleman in a bowler hat — Logan Houghtelling turned into all of them, in class, and way before Halloween.

Life was difficult for the San Francisco Bay area teenager. He worried about his father, a firefighter who was battling wildfires, and missed his friends during the coronavirus pandemic. "I know other people are feeling like this. So, why don't I dress up and try to bring happiness to people? "

So starting in August, he set out to cheer up his classmates, his family and others who have come to wonder what he'll wear next for his classes on Zoom. One day, he popped up on screen in a toga （宽袍）；another day, he wore a cowboy hat and a Western shirt. In September, he wore the uniform of the Chicago Cubs. In October, he was Seymour Krelborn from Little Shop of Horrors. He even dressed up as a bottle of sriracha sauce（辣椒酱）. "I've had two teachers just stop in mid-sentence and start laughing, " the 15-year-old boy said. "I've had classmates text me like, 'What are you wearing today?

Most ideas come from Halloween costumes that he wore in previous years and clothes from around the house that he adapted with the help of his mother, Meredith, an elementary school teacher. "I've actually had friends who I’ve bumped into in the grocery store saying, 4 You haven't been posting his pictures lately. I look forward to his pictures every day, '" she said.

Houghtelling said that it's important to try to focus on the positive and help lift others up. “I think there need to be people who go out and bring people happiness, " he said. "More people need to do that. We just need to spread positivity. "

Never will Kate Baker forget her frightening traveling experience. She and her husband. Bob, were heading to Europe with their 2-year-old son, Neil. "When we got on the plane in New York, all three of us were healthy," she said. "But halfway over the Atlantic Ocean, Neil started to get very warm, and his face was red." Then Neil began foaming at the mouth.

"The flight attendants were going up and down the aisle（过道）, asking anyone if they were a doctor," Kate recalled, "No one would come forward. And then the pilot started announcing, ‘Is there a doctor on board and should I turn this plane around?’ And again, no one came forward."

"When noticing Neil could hardly breathe, I think I must have gone into shock because I couldn't feel anything, and I couldn't speak," Kate said.

Then three women got out of their seats and approached where she was standing in the aisle. They came up to her and put their arms around her. They started speaking to Kate in a language that she didn't understand.

"The tone of their voice was so, so soothing, and they stood there with me with their arms around me." said Kate.

They eventually landed in Amsterdam. But they quickly booked another flight home to New Jersey. They went right to a doctor, who discovered that Neil had just had an ear infection. His symptoms（症状）had probably been due to a rapid increase in his body temperature.

The doctor treated him for the ear infection, and everything was fine. Kate never forgot those women and how supportive they were. She said, "I will never forget them and what they did for me. We may not speak the same language, but it doesn't matter to me because we can connect on a very deep human level."

Last winter, when I was heavily pregnant, I was visiting my sister and sister-in-law's house and had to park in a nearby parking lot because they didn't have accessible parking. The snow was extremely heavy and there was lots of ice on the ground — not many people had ventured out that evening! When I returned to my car around 11 pm, I noticed that I was the only car left. Nervously, I jumped into the car and let it warm up a bit. When I finally tried to drive away, my wheels began to spin. I was stuck! I spun and spun and wondered what to do.

All of the sudden, in my rear view mirror, I saw four teenaged boys approaching my car. They were walking side-by-side in a line and dressed a bit like gang members — at least I thought that’s what they looked like. My car was in a very isolated area and I began to panic. I was certain they were coming to my car to harm me. Terrified, I just froze. One of the young men tapped on my window and said ''Excuse me, Ma’am, can we help you? You seem stuck.'' Still afraid and fearing the worst, I said ''I am stuck.'' And the young man said ''It's okay, stay in your car and we'll push you out of the snow.'' And they did!

When they finally got me out of the snow, they smiled and waved. I rolled down my window and thanked them, embarrassed to have judged them so poorly.