Months ago, a 76-year-old woman named Marie Boyer fell in her house. For days, she was incapable of moving. Because her windows were closed, no one could hear her cry out.

On the fourth day, her regular mail carrier, Lisa Sweeney, returned from vacation and noticed something wrong. Though she and Marie hadn’t had much conversation over the years, Lisa knew her customer’s habits. The mails in the mailbox, untouched garbage cans in front of the house and the car in the driveway were clear warning signs. She knocked on the door next to Marie’s, but the man in the house had been away on vacation too and didn’t know anything. “I just had a feeling that Marie was inside,” Lisa says. She called the police and continued on her route, but kept circling back to Marie’s house until the police arrived.

Rescuers broke in through a back window to discover Marie unconscious (不省人事的). Learning that Marie was still alive, Lisa burst into tears, so glad that her customer of 11 years had been rescued.

Since that August day, Marie has moved into an assisted-living facility, but Lisa visits her regularly and still brings her mail. They even celebrated Marie’s 77th birthday at a restaurant across the street. Lisa’s son has been known to stop by to see Marie too. The close connection forged that summer day continues stronger than ever.

On Thanksgiving Day, Lisa’s home held extra guests: Marie and her son, daughter-in-law and daughter. It was their first Thanksgiving together as a family since Marie’s own mother passed away. Lisa brought Marie over early to watch the programme on TV together as well as one of the turkeys frying outside. Marie also got in some quality animal time with Lisa’s six cats and one dog.

Due to Lisa’s offer to step forward, Marie is fortunate to have a new life. “Actually, it’s lucky for me too. My life has become more colorful and happier because I have a new family member: Marie,” Lisa says.

Diana Nyad was a professional swimmer. She was in her twenties when she decided to swim around Manhattan. The first time she tried, she didn’t succeed. But she didn’t give up. She tried again and swam the twenty-eight miles in less than eight hours. Then she had another goal: to swim from Cuba to Florida, a distance of 110 miles. She didn’t stop to sleep. But she didn’t finish. Jellyfish attacked her, and the weather threw her off course. Did she try again? Yes, but not until thirty-three years later.

Nyad retired from competitive swimming in her twenties. For the next thirty years, she didn’t swim at all. She became a sportscaster (体育比赛解说员) and a journalist. But she didn’t stop all physical activities. She always kept in shape. Every Friday she took a one-hundred-mile bike ride.

In 2007, when Nyad was sixty years old, her mother died. She started to think about her own life. In the thirty years when she didn’t swim, she always thought about the possibility of trying again. She didn’t want to die without achieving her goal. She started to train again. By the summer of 2011, she tried again — and failed again — after twenty-nine hours in the water. She tried two more times and failed to reach Florida each time. What kinds of problems did she face? There were attacks by jellyfish, bad weather, and breathing problems from asthma (哮喘). How did she solve the problem of jellyfish? For her fifth attempt, she wore a bodysuit and mask to protect against jellyfish stings. On August 31, 2013, after fifty-three hours of swimming, she reached the Florida shore, thirty-five years after her first attempt. Nyad achieved what younger and stronger swimmers could not.

Nyad always tells people, “Never give up.”