It was the worst day ever. In fact, that’s what we named it, all caps:WORST DAY EVER. The exact date was March 19, 2007, and I’ll never forget it.

The day began as usual. My husband, Alan, a manager working for a national restaurant chain, entered his office in our home to participate in conference calls. From my spot in the kitchen, I could overhear his conversation with his boss. It turned out that my fears were confirmed. Alan’s position had been dismissed. I hugged my husband as my heart sank. What were we going to do? Would we lose our house if we couldn’t afford to pay our mortgage(按揭贷款)?“We’ll be fine, ”he said . “I know, ”I responded . But, frankly, neither of us was very convincing.

I wanted to crawl back in bed and pull the covers over my head, but I had to go to work. So, I quickly showered, dressed, and made my way to work. It was a few hours into my shift when I received a call from the doctor’s office. “You have cancer, ”he stated. “What?”It sounded like something completely ridiculous, since I was a positive and healthy runner. That day I forgot how I arrived home.

I thought about how wonderful things had been up until this day. Alan and I had enjoyed a happy life in our lovely suburban home. We loved our jobs, traveling and fancy dinners. It was all too good to last, I thought. Now it’s time to pay back for all those amazing years. I imagined hospital beds, my bald head and worse. I prepared myself for a future of coping(应对), or no future at all .

I cried and Alan held me in his arms. “Someday in the future, we’re going to write about today, ”he whispered in my ear, “and we’ll call it Worst Day Ever. ”

In the following days, we both got right to work.

After several months, our hard work eventually paid off.

One summer, I went on a four-day desert trip with my family. On the train, I looked out of the window, expecting something surprising to happen on this desert trip. I was very excited all the way, talking about what would happen in the desert with my parents, standing up and looking around.

An hour later, all the visitors arrived at the destination, the endless desert, which extended as far as the eye could see. Everywhere was dull yellow with sand, there were no trees, and the vastness of the desert shocked each of us.

Before we started our journey, the guide explained the rules to us: We’d better put on sun-protective clothing and hold onto the hiking pole. We had to walk through the entire desert, 18 kilometers per day for four days. There were two routes that we could choose from. One was down the hill. There were rivers and vegetation(植被). The road was relatively flat, easy to walk on, and it was not so hot. The other route was to walk through the real desert, which was all sand without any water and dust storms often happened. We had to go step by step, and our feet could often get stuck in the sand. No matter which route we chose, we needed to arrive at the next destination before 6 pm. There would be a rest area every five kilometers, where we could drink water and eat some food. If we really couldn’t persist(坚持) , we could quit and take the car. Those who did persist to the end would have a big surprise.

Everyone was discussing with excitement after they heard the rules. Many people wanted to fight for the big surprise. Personally, I wanted to win the surprise as well. Most of the people took the first route, but two adults and one child took the other. Yes, that was my parents and me. I just wanted to break through and challenge myself.

Soon, we set off.

With their encouragement, I gathered my strength and moved on.

A freezing downpour washed the street in front of the small-town bar. I sat gazing into the watery darkness, alone as usual. I had been in that old bar for half an hour, quietly drinking, when my thoughtful eyes finally focused on a medium-sized lump (一团) in a puddle (水洼) a hundred feet away. For another ten minutes, I looked out through the window trying to decide if the lump was an animal or just something.

The night before, a German dog named Shep had come into the bar begging for potato chips. He was starving and just the size of the lump in the puddle. Why should a dog lie in a cold puddle in the freezing rain? I asked myself. The answer was simple: Either it wasn’t a dog, or it was, he was too weak to get up.

The wound in my right shoulder ached all the way down my fingers. I didn’t want to go out in the storm. Hey, it wasn’t my dog. It was just a stray on a cold rainy night, a lonely drifter (流浪者). So was I, I thought, as I tossed (扔) down what was left of my drink and headed out the door.

He was lying in the three inches of water. When I touched him, he didn’t move. I thought he was dead. I put my hands around his chest and raised him to his feet. He stood unsteadily, and his head hung like a weight at the end of his neck. His floppy ears were just hairless pieces of flesh dotted with open sores (伤口).

“Come on, Shep,” I said, leading him to a corner next to the bar, where he lay on the cold cement and closed his eyes. A block away I could see the lights of a late-night convenience store. It was still open. I bought three cans of dog food and fed him. He couldn’t swallow but poorly look at me. He was dying!

The local vet (兽医) was still at his office, so I loaded the poor creature into a taxi and headed there.

Three days later, when I opened the door of the vet’s, Shep welcomed me with wild enthusiasm.