When I was a little girl, I knew that I had a gift for music. Playing was my love. While most kids were outside in the burning summer sun, playing childish games, I was happy to sit in the cool indoors for hours practicing my beloved piano. When I played, I felt like I was in a whole new world where I was free and easy. All I had to worry about was my music. Playing was never boring for me.

I had spent months practicing and the big day finally came. It was the day of the Alberta Music Competition. The music hall was packed with excited audience. I sat in the first row with my mother seated beside me. As the fellow competitors were playing, I couldn’t keep my mind on their music. I was just memorizing the notes and practising the fingerings. I had known my music was like the back of my hand. But this time, to my great surprise, I found my fingers completely out of my control. They kept shaking. I nearly burst into tears. Seeing this, mom held my hands tightly in hers. She even breathed into them as if she wanted to warm them up. Then she whispered to my ear, “Sweetie, take it easy. Just listen and enjoy the music.”

I looked up and turned my attention to the competitor in the center of the stage for the first time. A thin and tall boy was sitting at the beautiful red piano. He looked calm and confident. His fingertips danced on the keyboard. The soft and gentle sound of the piano flew in the air. For a moment, I totally forgot my nervousness.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Employment and Insurance Officer was definitely not on my list. I did not even know what an Employment and Insurance Officer did until I got a job at Service Canada in 1968. An Employment and Insurance Officer helps people find jobs, apply for employment and insurance, and return to school for training. It is working every day on the front lines helping people. What could be more rewarding than to help someone find a job or change their career?

One day, a lady came to the office with a dream to become a formal nurse. According to my client (客户), her family did not agree with that. She was a mother with young children, and her husband had returned to school for training. There was not enough money for her to return to school.

It was clear that this lady had a passion for the nursing profession, so I encouraged her to realize her dream. I equipped her with the information necessary to apply for a nursing school, and she left the office. At the time, the RN program was three years at the P. E. I. Hospital. She went on her way, and I never knew whether she followed her dream or not.

Many years later, I fell ill with a serious disease. I was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, for an operation. I must admit I was scared. I had a husband and two beautiful children. I was only forty-eight years old.

The operation was successful. It was, however, very painful (疼痛的). I prided myself on not being a bell ringer, but one night the pain was so bad that I had to call for a nurse. I rang the bell and waited for some help. A nurse came through the door and offered to help. I apologetically thanked the nurse for coming to my rescue. I said, “I am not usually like this.”

注意：1.续写词数应为150左右;

I had always prided myself on my sharp tongue and brilliant response whether in class debates or casual arguments. Thus, when I was selected to represent the school in the national debate series, I was naturally extremely confident of myself.

All the members in my team were good speakers. We had an experienced teacher who trained us well. But I was undoubtedly the most outstanding speaker. In each of the rounds that I debated in, all the judges selected me as the best one. This meant that my confidence was the highest by the time we found ourselves with one week to train before the finals. I had every reason to believe that I would be voted the best speaker for the debate series.

I began to be self-important about the whole business and started behaving that way with my team-mates. I would laugh at Eton’s poor debating style. I would complain of Vivian’s slow response. I saw myself as the natural debater who would be disappointed by their bad performance.

As the finals drew near, I became more and more dissatisfied with my team. I began missing practices. My teacher was worried. My teammates were panicked. However, they had no choice but to rely on me to win the finals. Even if they would love to remove me from the team they could not because there was no replacement good enough.

The day of the finals finally came. I was very excited that I was able to finally show off my debating skills. Everyone was expecting my performance.They knew that I was praised to be the one most likely to win the best speaker for the debate series.

But the reality was not something that I had ever imagined.

Suddenly,a comforting hand from behind held mine.