The Climb to the Top

My life as a kid was a sweet life. I lived in a beautiful house with the beautiful surroundings in Puerto Rico. There was one particular thing I loved and it was a huge tree that was in my backyard. As a child, I used to climb the tree every day. Every time I went, I climbed higher and higher, reaching new branches, obstacles, and pathways on my way up. One day, I reached the top and I could see my island. I felt I was on top of the world, and nothing could stop me. Then, there was the day that seemed like the end of my life. This specific day changed my life forever.

It was a nice summer day. After breakfast, my family headed to the park to see my baseball game. In the evening we went to a carnival (嘉年华) in my town. My grandma was selling blankets under a tent. Suddenly, the mood of the day changed when my parents took me to my grandma's tent. Still to this day, I remember the exact words my dad said to me, “Son, how would you like to move to the United States?” I couldn't believe what he said. I then ran away from him as the tears rolled down my cheeks. My perfect life was being taken away from me.

Two weeks later, we arrived at New York in late July, and my aunt and uncle drove us to Springfield，Massachusetts where we lived for seven years. Once we got there, I met my mom's family for the first time. September came and school started. I was afraid to go to a new school and make new friends. Most kids ignored me and some tried to talk to me, but I couldn't understand them or say anything. My first year in the United States was not fun or easy but I worked hard and got through it.

Now that I'm grown, I look back on the journey that I've been through: living in a new place with no friends, new language, and new schools. Despite all those problems, I still remembered that special tree. That tree taught me to never give up and reach higher. I have beaten every difficulty that I have met in life and I just kept moving forward. My perfect life was never taken away from me; it has just started.

“Yard sale” is appealing to bargain hunters, antique seekers and so on. It may seem simple. 【小题1】 Here, what you need to know, do and plan for in order to hold a great event.

Plan in advance. Have you decided you’re going to have a yard sale? Great! 【小题2】 In addition to gathering up and assessing your things, placing signs around the neighborhood, you also need to find out whether your city requires a permit and whether your other neighborhood organization has rules about yard sales.

Get help. You probably don’t want to do this all alone since your attention will be spread pretty thin during busy sale periods. Ask a couple of friends, neighbors or family members to help you out with set-up, running the register or clean-up -or better yet, to add their own things to the sale. 【小题3】.

【小题4】If you’re going to the trouble of attempting to sell your stuff, make it look attractive so it actually sells well. Wipe down appliances, wash, iron and hang clothing, and lay everything out nice and neat on clean tables and shelves, not in piles.

Be safe. 【小题5】 Do not let people enter your house to try on clothes or use the bathroom, and keep your doors locked. Don’t take personal checks from strangers, and rather than a cash box anybody could grab, keep earnings on your person in a fanny-pack-type device or safely in your pocket. Take periodic trips inside to put the cash.

Did you know that swimming can provide you with the tools you need for achieving success later in life? The following life lessons aren’t things you can be taught in a classroom. They are drawn from the count-less hours we spend swimming in the clean water.

Having big goals is necessary to achieve success in the pool. Sometimes those big goals can be our worst enemy, however. You need to start with short-term goals. Sometimes taking baby steps can be too slow for some people, making them annoyed, but successful swimmers know that this slow progress provides an accumulated effect that has a huge impact in the mid and long term. Success in the pool — and life — is achieved step by step, mistake by mistake, small win by small win.

Swimming tests your mental limits. I cannot count how many times I watched the coach write a set of training plans on the board and felt myself holding back deep inside, mind racing, with thoughts of how badly I was going to die over the course of the set. But then what happened? I pulled it off. I started the set, and talked myself through it. “Hey, this isn’t so bad.” A little bit later, “Okay, halfway done.” And finally, “I am going to achieve the goal!”

The reality is you never know how tough you are until you are in the race, reaching that goal even though a few minutes earlier you were mentally shaking in your swimming suit. This carries really well into the other challenges you will face in your life. We always think we aren’t capable, that swimming or life finally beats us, but believe it or not, you will always be as strong as you need to be.