“Do you forget to bring your homework to school!?” my math teacher asked. I nodded my head and said in a low voice, “Yes, sir.” What a mistake I had made! I had completed my math homework. But when I headed for school, I forgot to put it into my schoolbag. Now my homework is still lying on the desk at home.

“You will have to get a zero then,” my math teacher said. I was shocked. I had never received a zero in a math class before. But the school had rules, and the teacher had to let everyone follow them. I was immediately worried about my final math average, which was based on my homework and the tests. Would I get a C or even a D at the end of the term? If so, what should I do?

My next class was a gym class. As I walked down the hall with my classmates, all those feelings rushed out in hot tears. I wiped them away as quickly as I could. But when we entered the gym and sat down on the floor, it was clear to everyone around me that I had been crying.

My gym teacher, Ms. Brown, was an athletic teacher, often with a smile on her face. Ms. Brown was nice and compassionate (有同情心的). She loved her students and often came to help if the students were in trouble.

During that gym class, my mind was affected by the math homework and I was worried about my final math average. So I failed to devote my attention to Ms. Brown’s direction. And clearly, I was sad. I guessed that Ms. Brown found there was something wrong with me. When it was near the end of the gym class, she walked to me.

She sat down to comfort me.

I felt relaxed and decided to work harder at math.

Lynn Marchessault and her two children packed up their car in Georgia and settled in for a five- day ride. They were going to meet up with Lynn’s husband in Alaska, where he is stationed as a soldier.

Because of COVID-19 regulations, they had to stick to a strict five-day schedule to reach their destination. Unfortunately, once they entered Canada, things began to take a turn for the worse. Lynn^, s phone didn’t have signal without an Internet connection, so they had no GPS. Not to mention ,her windshield wipers （雨舌器）wouldn’t work, she was having an extremely difficult time driving in the snow, which she had never done before, and she wasn’t allowed to stop anywhere for help because of the travel restrictions.

Thankfully, a woman named Teena noticed her crying in her car at a gas station. Upon hearing Lynn’ s story, she decided to take a look at their tires. She found that Lynn had summer tires. That’s why she was having so much trouble driving in the snow. Teena helped Lynn get to a tire shop, where the owner helped her swap out her wheels for some that were better suited to the winter weather and changed her wipers — even though it was Sunday and the business was actually closed.

Lynn got back on the road, only to stop at a hotel that was meant only for oil field workers. But when Andy, the hotel manager, saw that Lynn was struggling, he bent the rules to let the mom and her kids spend the night so they didn’t have to get back on the road in cold weather.

Unable to bear driving another three days alone, Lynn decided to hire a driver to take them the rest of the way to the Alaskan border, another 1,000 miles away. She reached out to Teena to see if she could help her find someone. Between Teena and the power of social media, they were connected with Gary Bath, a Canadian Ranger （护林员）who offered to help them get to Alaska!

Over the course of their three — day drive, Lynn and Gary had great conversations.

Difficulties may occur to all of us.