When I was a child, my parents often took me to an old house in a thick forest. No other children ever stayed there. I didn’t even have the choice of playing with a brother or sister.

I could never understand what the attraction of the house was, even for my parents, who enjoyed nothing better than to sit in silence with a good book. The woman in the house, my father’s distant cousin, was a terrible cook and her food was inedible.

One day, when I was wandering around the garden behind the house, I noticed a wooden house which had clearly been abandoned (被遗弃的). As I walked towards it, I heard a noise, like an animal moving hurriedly away. Then I saw a man with a long beard (胡须) standing at the door. I was greatly surprised.

“Please don’t tell them you saw me,” he said. “They never use this place, and I have nowhere else to live.” “Don’t worry,” I said. “I won’t tell anyone. But are you all right out here? I mean — do you have enough to eat?” The old man shook his head.

The same evening, I took a small plastic bag into the dining room and, while no one was looking, emptied some of the food into it. Later, I got out of the back door secretly and gave the food to the old man, whose name I had discovered was Tom.

I have never seen anything else as lovely as the smile of satisfaction on Tom’s face when he ate the food. From then on, my visits to the old house had a purpose, and I enjoyed every minute of the rest of my stay.

In a recent email to an old friend, I mentioned that our family planned on taking our four-week road trip in our motor home. My friend emailed back and said he thought I was very “brave” to set out on such an adventure with two young children (aged two and five). I laughed when I read his email and wondered if he knew how much he was missing out on by giving up the idea of such a fun RV (旅行房车) trip with one5s family.

My husband and I have been “RVing” for over ten years. When we first started traveling, we certainly had some troubles that were not so funny at the time but seem to be funny now. We forgot our pillows and failed to cook dinner on an outdoor grill for lack of a flashlight. Then we decided to make our dinner in the motor home but could not get the oven lit! So we went to bed a little hungrier than we had planned!

However, that’s nothing compared with the amazing natural wonders we experienced during our RV trips. In addition, we have discovered a new world of family fun and family bonding. We saw the Grand Canyon when our son was only six months old. We play games inside and : out, walk together, talk together, read, solve puzzles, and enjoy music and movies. We have got used to doing things with one another. Our kids love to pick out good, old-fashioned postcards to send off via snail mail to different family members on every trip.

As our world gets more and more overloaded with cell phones, texting, emails and video games, our family sticks more and more tightly to the wonderfully simple idea of unplugging electronic devices for a while and jumping into the seat to take a trip in our motor home. Then we come home with fun pictures of our wandering, and we’re able to build special memories for our kids. Now we want to spread the word and tell families of all kinds what enjoyment can be had from packing up for a trip in the RV.

When David Carter started his art major at the University of Texas at Austin in 1971, he had big dreams of becoming an artist or a writer. But he dropped out of university at 23 after he hurt his hand badly in an incident. He was later diagnosed with schizophrenia(精神分裂症) and spent several years without a home. Carter liked to spend time around UT-Austin, because he dreamed of being able to continue his study in the university and becoming a writer.

UT-Austin student Ryan Chandler said he met Carter during an assignment(任务)   on homelessness for The Daily Texan. “I interviewed him about homeless problems. After I heard his story, we kept in touch and really became friends. I learned he wanted to get back to UT-Austin, so I decided to help him.” said Chandler.

With the help of Chandler, who worked with the university office, Carter was assigned and adviser by UN-Austin’s College of Fine Arts. “It’s the greatest blessing I’ve ever received,” Carter said. “He did what had to be done to get me back to school, and I couldn’t have done it without him.” after seeing a magazine article about Carter, a UT-Austin alumnus(校友) decided to pay his tuition fees without telling his name.

Doug Dempster, dean of the college of Fine Arts, said in a statement that the school would be looking to help Carter in any way it could. “David Carter’s determination to complete his degree is a testament to finishing well what was started, and stopped, even many years earlier. We welcome him back as we do many students each year whose education could not be completed easily. We’re going to help him through his remaining course work.”