"Are you going to Seattle?" an anxious-looking woman asked a femal traveler at the Amtrak Station in Sacramento, "No, I'm going to Eugene," the traveler replied. "Oh, I was hoping you could watch out for my daughter, she's never been on a train before."

Since I am a seasoned train traveler, I know that seats and cars are assigned by destination. So I approached the woman and her frightened-looking daughter and told them that her daughter could sit with me and that I would take care of her for the duration of the journey.

The train had arrived 25 minutes late, and people rushed to get their seat assignments. The conductor wanted to know if there were people traveling together, so I pushed my way to the front of the line with the girl and we were arranged to sit next to each other. Once on board, I showed her where to put her luggage, and took her to the bathroom area. We settled down to sleep. In the morning, she became comfortable enough to do what most 15-year olds do--talk and text on her mobile phone.

Throughout the trip, I made sure she picked up her ID, which had fallen out of her backpack, and generally kept an eye on her in an easy way. I hope someone takes her under their wing when she flies (another anxiety-producing first) back to Sacramento.

I do hope that kindness will spread around the world through these ways. We're conditioned to think that our lives revolved (旋转 )around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware, beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

My daughter was being thrown out of the sixth grade. The teacher said, “She may not be up to what we’re trying to accomplish.” He was really saying she didn’t have the intelligence. I got mad because I knew she was smart, just as my father had known I was smart when I was failing in school. We had her tested. I decided to get myself tested as well, and found that the troubles she was having were exactly what I had had — dyslexia. By then I was a successful television writer, and had won an Emmy Award for “The Rockford Files.”

If I had known earlier that something beyond my control could explain why I was a low achiever, I may not have worked so hard in my late 20s and early 30s. I was writing and writing. I was working for no other reason than to hear people praise me, because I did badly in all my courses.

I once asked a friend who had always gotten an A, “How long did you study for this?” He said, “I didn’t. I just glanced at it.” So he must be smarter. I began to ask, “What will happen to me when I’m not good at anything?” Despite my doubts, I did become successful, and people now say to me, “So you’ve overcome dyslexia.”

No. You don’t overcome it, you learn to compensate for it. Some easy things are very hard for me. Most people who go through college read twice as fast as I do. I avoid dialing a phone if I can, because I sometimes have to try three times to get the number right.

Despite my weaknesses I view dyslexia as a gift, not a curse (诅咒). Many dyslexics are good at right-brain, abstract thought, and that’s what my kind of creative writing is. And I can write quickly, and can get up to 15 pages a day. Writing is my strength.

The real fear I have for dyslexic children is not they have to struggle in school, but that they will quit on themselves before they get out of school. Parents have to create victories for them, whether it’s music, sports or art. You can make your dyslexic child able to say, “Yeah, reading is hard. But I have other things I can do.”

When we first rented (租) a home on Seven Mile Island, in Avalon and Stone Harbor in Southern New Jersey, I never thought that my family would continue to go there every summer for more than twenty years. But that is exactly what happened. The thing is something fabulous happens when you get into a vacation routine (惯例); it becomes part of family culture.

Traveling to different places is great for learning new things, and we do enjoy exploring new parts of the world . But for a comfortable getaway, knowing what to expect when traveling to favorite place is priceless. My family takes vacations during spring break and other holidays as well. But during our repeat beach vacation, I don’t feel the need to see a world wonder or spend an entire day in a museum because it’s my only chance to see wonderful works of art. All that’s required of me is to bring a book and a beach chair, with no fear of missing out.

My two daughters were in grade school when we started going to the Jersey Shore; now they’re both married and their husbands come along, too. My son wasn’t born yet the first time we rented a beach house; now he’s a teen learning to surf (冲浪) . As the family grows. We add to our list of family activities. There are games ranging from basketball to competitive card games.

One added advantage of repeatedly visiting the same place is being able to explore it in a way we could never do with only a one-time visit. On our seven-mile beach island, this means we’ve had time to spend exploring the wet lands and bird-wildlife refuges (保护区) that are unique (独特的) to the area but don’t necessarily make the list of top beach activities for list-timers. We’ve explored up and down the coast and found our favorite places to bike, fish, and eat.