Far from their home in Boucherville, Quebec, looking to remember as many once-in-a-lifetime memories as they could collect, Mia with her parents Edith and Smith rode horses across the bright green grassland of Mongolia, boated on the blue sea off Cambodia, camped under the soaring brick-red peaks of Namibia and flew in a hot air balloon over the brown, lunar-like landscape in Turkiye.

Back in 2013, when Mia was 3, the family began a frustrating series of visits to doctors, none of whom had an answer for her lack of night vision. In 2015, as a last resort, an eye doctor enrolled the family in a research project. After two years, their entire genome (基因组) was mapped out.

“Right now,” the doctor continued, “there is no cure.”

Full of emotion, Edith stood up, excused herself and walked to the nearest bathroom, where she locked herself in it. Unwilling to lose it in front of Mia, who wouldn’t understand, she sat there alone and cried.

While it was tempting to seek a second opinion, Edith and Smith knew that genetic mapping did not lie: The results were definitive and life-changing.

They hesitated about explaining to 7-year-old Mia what her condition meant. Should they let her be a kid, innocent and unaware, for as long as possible? A few weeks later, it just came out, part of a coversation about disabilities in general while having lunch at their kitchen table.

“You know the problem with your eyes?” Edith asked Mia. “You’re probably going to be blind when you’re an adult.” The truth was more abrupt (意外的) than Edith had hoped, but at least it was done. Edith held her breath as she waited for Mia to respond.

“Oh, that’s not fun.” the girl said before changing the subject.

Later that week, Mia started to keep everything in its place in the house.

After two years’ work, they set out for the yearlong trip while Mia could still see.

My family had a hard time when I was in Grade 11. My parents lost their jobs during the Depression. Dad was too ill to work outside, while Mum had a tough time raising us kids on her own in our small community. We relied on our community assistance to keep us clothed, and although our clothes were secondhand, we thought they were beautiful.

Looking back, I realize what Mum went through for sending us kids to school. Every morning she would put a new piece of cardboard in our shoes, because our shoes were worn out. Moving house constantly was typical for my family during the period. Rent was twenty-five dollars a month, but Mum couldn’t pay it. These were hard and sad years, but we never complained.

The new year was approaching, and we were entitled (享有)to a twenty-five dollar fund for social services. Mum said that instead of buying food, she would use the money to pay back rent, making sure we all had a roof over our heads for a little while longer. She told us then there would be nothing for the new year.

Unknown to Mum, I had been removing snow and doing odd jobs to earn enough money to buy a new pair of shoes. I knew exactly which shoes I wanted. They were made of genuine leather and they had a price of twenty-three dollars. Well, the big day came on the last day of that year. I was very excited, as I was hurrying up to catch the bus. It was only a half-a-mile walk, but on the way I noticed a house with lights and decorations. It was then that I realized in our house, we had no lights, no decorations, nor any money for goodies (好吃的东西). I knew then that we would have no delicious food for the new year, and I felt sad.

As I continued walking, I began to feel confused. I was sixteen years old, and I was feeling a strange sense of guilt. Here I was going to buy a new pair of shoes while Mum was home in tears. She would be trying to explain to us why there were no presents.

I thought how I ought to use the money I had earned.

Soon I got to my house with the groceries (食品杂货).

The Christmas I will never forget happened when I was 9. I believed in Santa with all my heart. How could I not when I received everything I wished for.

December 1st. Mom would announce, “It’s time.” Hearing those words, we all knew it was time to write our letters to Santa. One day I asked mom why we always wrote our letters on December 1st. She said because so many kids were writing letters to Santa, he needed time to read them and make all the toys the kids wanted. Once our letters were finished, mom would put them in her purse and mail them the next day.

Christmas Eve finally arrived. We were all so excited. We did our Christmas Eve traditions. Daddy read us The Night Before Christmas’ story. Then it was time for sleep. I had such a good feeling about Christmas this year. It was difficult to fall asleep. But sleep finally came and so did Christmas morning. I woke up hearing my brothers yelling. Jimmy came running and jumping on my bed. “Santa’s been here, sister! Let’s open presents!”

We ran down the stairs. Our eyes were glowing like wildfire as we eyed over the presents under the tree. My brothers and I quickly snuggled (依偎) among the packages. We all watched as each person unwrapped a gift. I kept watching as my brothers unwrapped gifts. My dad didn’t hand me any package. “This year you are going to be the last to get your presents because you are the oldest.” he declared. I didn’t think anything of it, so I whispered “OK.”

One by one all of the packages had been opened. There was none left. I couldn’t understand. I had been so good this year. Tears began sliding down my cheeks. I ran up to my room. My mom went up the stairs for me to come back down. Dad wanted to talk to me, sobbing, I slowly made my way back.

Dad signed to me to follow him.

The memory of that Christmas stayed with me all these years.