I was in Chicago for a job training when I knew a nearby theatre was releasing a film about saving dogs. I love animals and this fundraising event sounded right up my alley. However, none of my co-workers could squeeze time for me. I got cold feet for anxiety about navigating the streets by myself at night alone.

But in my hotel room I felt restless and bored. The theatre was only about five blocks away from the hotel. How could I stray? Hence, I decided to brave it. I gathered my room key and set off.

I managed to find the street of the theatre but when I turned the corner I stopped in shock. The street in front of the theatre was full of bikers-lots of very big, tough-looking bikers.

Now I was a woman all alone at night. There were many large men, all wearing insignia suggesting they were in some sort of club or gang. Warning bells began to sound and my heart jumped in my throat. Was I at the right theatre? Had I misread the date of the event?

I finally decided that I would be safer inside the theatre where there was, presumably, a crowd of people. I scurried into the theatre. As I sat there, heart racing, waiting for the film to start, I muttered a prayer to contain my anxieties. A local blues-rock band was the opening act and their performance drew my attention. Enthusiasm for the band’s performance soon took away all my worries from my mind and I began to relax.

After the band, the film began and I understood the presence of the bikers after a conversation with the staff. Being part of an animal rescue group, they had escorted dogs from New Jersey to Chicago. At that moment, I was struck by the bond that had drawn so many disparate folks to the theatre. Singers, sportsmen, ordinary workers had all been brought together by our shared love of animals. I made new friends. I discovered a new band and supported an important cause. I stayed till the very end and made it to my hotel without any incident, overjoyed that I broke out of the boundary I used to set for myself and ventured into the unknown. To my amazement, the reward was one of the best nights of my life.

Born and raised in Michigan, I knew the move to Phoenix would bring profound changes to my life. Accustomed to a lifetime in a state with a beautiful landscape, I wondered about the life I’d find in the desert southwest.

The first weekend after my arrival, my new relatives hosted a “welcome to the family” party for me. Standing in the backyard, amazed by the “dry heat” in August, I watched in frozen fascination as a flying creature came from nowhere and buzzed my head!

I swatted (拍打) at it so hard that I spun myself around, lost balance and fell onto the lawn—in front of my new family! My husband ran over to me and as he helped me get up, asked what had happened. “The biggest bee I ever saw just dive-bombed my head, so I tried to swat him away!” He broke out in laughter and pointed to the hummingbird feeder. “You mean that? Just then, I realized that swatting at a hummingbird taught me a profound lesson.

In our lives, many times good things come to us in unexpected ways. Pleasant surprises, happy coincidences and even “dumb luck” impact our well being. Often, we don’t even know the gifts exist, much less do we hold any expectation of receiving them, and consequently we travel through life unprepared to receive the good that comes into our lives “out of the blue”.

The hummingbird symbolizes something new and beautiful entering into our lives. Our first reaction may be to push it away, denying a gift from Spirit in whatever form it takes because we can’t accept something we’ve never experienced before.

When I grew to appreciate the desert with beautiful flowers fully open, I realized the tiny bird’s contribution to the delicate balance of the life cycle. Only then did I understand how essential its role is in the desert natural habitat.

When we can figure out what the new good means to us, then we can appreciate the gift and include it in our daily enjoyment. Adding positive elements to our world excludes nothing, but rather makes the flight around the sun much more enjoyable!

Most people know that Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, and the first person to win it twice. However, few people know that she was also the mother of a Nobel Prize winner.

Born in September, 1897, Irene Curie was the first of the Curies’ two daughters. Along with nine other children whose parents were also famous scholars, Irene studied in their own school, and her mother was one of the teachers. She finished her high school education at the College of Sevigne in Paris.

At the age of 17 Irene entered the University of Paris to prepare for a degree in mathematics and physics. When World War I began, Irene went to help her mother, who was using X-ray facilities(设备) to help save the lives of wounded soldiers. Irene continued the work by developing X-ray facilities in military hospitals in France and Belgium. Her services were recognized in the form of a Military’s Medal by the French government.

In 1918, Irene became her mother’s assistant at the Curie Institute. In December 1924, Frederic Joliot joined the Institute, and Irene taught him the techniques required for his work. They soon fell in love and were married in 1926. Their daughter Helene was born in 1927 and their son Pierre five years later.

Like her mother, Irene combined family and career. Like her mother, Irene was awarded a Nobel Prize, along with her husband, in 1935. Unfortunately, also like her mother, she developed leukemia because of her work with radioactivity(辐射能). Irene Joliot-Curie died from leukemia on March 17, 1956.