Kelsey was grateful for everything her mother had done for her. In spite of being raised by her mother alone, Kelsey received a good education, and now held a leading position in a large company.   

Recently the company was making corporate brochures in which achievers would share their success and thank their parents as well. For this, the achievers would have to take photos of themselves with their parents.

Kelsey didn’t really want that because her mother had put on a lot of weight due to a sedentary (久坐的) lifestyle. Kelsey managed to contact one of the best photographers and made a reservation in advance. When she and her mother came to the photographer’s studio, Kelsey took the man aside and said, “Please make sure my mom looks thinner in the photo.” But the photographer said what her mother really needed was a diet or exercise, not a photographer.

Kelsey insisted that he shouldn’t make her mother look like a slim dancer. She just expected him to do his best to make her mother look a bit thinner. The photographer finally agreed and took measures to hide some details, setting the right light and choosing better angles for shots. But it was not easy to fool the camera.

Kelsey’s mother noticed how the photographer was having a hard time and how her daughter was shaking her head. She smiled and said that she just wanted photos with Kelsey no matter whether she looked heavy or not.

The next day, Kelsey came to pick up the photos with her mother. The photographer printed out several photos, copied the rest on a flash drive (闪存盘) and handed them to Kelsey. Kelsey was disappointed and complained. How she wished her mother could look much thinner! The photographer shrugged (耸肩) helplessly and said nothing. Kelsey’s mother, however, said that the photographer did a good job and she was who she was. Then she told Kelsey to accept the fact that her mother was not “the tiny girl Thumbelina in the fairy tale.”

Finishing her words, Kelsey’s mother turned and went out of the studio.

Kelsey felt so ashamed that she came near to tears.

As a young boy, I was carefree. Every vacation I looked forward to two things—seeing my grandpa and hearing his wonderful stories. My grandpa was a very good storyteller. He had worked various odd jobs when he was young and wove his adventures and misadventures into fantastic tales. These wonderful tales colored my childhood.

As I grew up, I had to admit that Grandpa’s stories went on a little long, even a little boring and gradually lost their magic. However, not wanting to upset him, my brother and I would sometimes take turns sitting in the living room, listening to grandpa tell his stories.

When my grandpa was approaching 91, he suffered from serious memory-loss. It was kind of what doctors called dementia (痴呆), probably the earliest stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Following the doctor’s directions, we moved him into a Sunrise Assisted Living Community, where he could get a better care. After that, grandpa hardly came to our house.

One weekend before my grandpa’s birthday, I came to visit him. Seeing grandpa sitting in his armchair, dull-looking, I was consumed with mixed feelings. I wheeled grandpa to the sunshine in the courtyard, talking to him. He couldn’t express himself clearly and spoke in short bursts, but I listened to him patiently and carefully just as I used to be a little boy.

It was then that I noticed a shadow box with some old and yellowish photos in it. I picked one up, in which my brother, several boys in our neighborhood, and I were playing basketball with grandpa cheering us on twenty years before. My mind flashed back to those beautiful memories. Back then, Grandpa was in good physical condition and we were all wearing basketball jerseys, playing and laughing with abandon. I presented the photo to my grandpa, pointing at each member and reminding him of their names. Incredibly, grandpa could speak out the name of every player. I even caught a soft light in grandpa’s eyes and a smile on his lips.

A bright idea for grandpa’s birthday came to my mind.

Seeing “the same players” playing there, grandpa seemed to have thought of something.

For almost every morning, the sun rose to greet the day and the birds sang its songs outside an upstairs window of the house. Inside, Jeff and Jenna would wake up.

Usually, the brother and sister got along very well. They took turns nicely with the bathroom. They said “please” and “thank you” at breakfast. They often sat together on the school bus. Afterschool they worked together happily on their special project—their own backyard house.

But one gray morning they didn’t get along well at all! Maybe it was the weather, or maybe the birds slept late. But whatever it was, they got into an angry argument.

Jenna opened her eyes and stretched. Then she sat up and let her legs dangle (悬挂) over the edge of herbed—right in Jeff’s face. She didn’t mean it. It was just one of those things that happens with a bunkbed (双层床).

That morning Jeff was not in a very good mood.

“Jenna!” he shouted. “Get your silly feet out of my face!”

“My feet aren’t silly, and they’re not in your face!” she shouted back.

Before Jeff could answer, she skipped into the bathroom ahead of him. She took a very longtime brushing her teeth, washing up, and combing her hair.

“You’d better come out of that bathroom!” shouted Jeff, banging (猛敲) on the door.

“Jeff, ”said Mama, coming out of her bedroom, “you know better than to shout at your sister.”

“But she’s taking too long in the bathroom,” complained Jeff. “And she’s doing it on purpose!”

When Jeff banged on the door again, it opened and out came Jenna, all dressed up.

“Good morning, Mama,” she said, taking no notice of Jeff at all.

Jeff and Jenna kept avoiding each other that day.

“That’s enough, ”said Mama seriously.