It was our last class before summer break. I was finishing up the first year of an MFA program in poetry (诗歌). I was tired and puzzled. “Was I good enough to be in the program?” When a professor (教授) asked about our summer plans, I panicked. I didn’t want to appear idle (闲散的). “Gardening.” I responded immediately. In fact, I knew nothing about plants! My professor nodded, saying, “What a good idea, Mari! Emily Dickinson loved gardening.” Emily Dickinson had lived in the countryside, studying plants as a child. I was in my late twenties living in the city without gardening experience.

A few days later, I bought a jalapeno seedling (青辣椒秧苗). At least I could say I’d tried gardening. I watered and changed the dirt for my little plant. I even talked to it. And over the summer, it grew bigger and bigger. I was proud. Maybe I didn’t have a black thumb after all.

I started the second year of my MFA, and then it was almost December and my jalapeno was suffering. It was brown in some places, many of its leaves had fallen off. Would my little guy make it? I prayed, “Please be okay.” As if its survival were closely linked to mine.

I worked hard in school. Spring came. My jalapeno plant came back to life. It grew bigger, with new leaves. And then it flowered. I handed in my graduate paper -a book of poems -in May. “Your poems are strong,” my professor said.

A huge weight lifted. I’d done it! At that time, I found the flowers on my jalapeno plant were gone. I watched closer. Where a flower had been a tiny green fruit pushed through. I smiled. I had succeeded in my MFA program, and my jalapeno plant had grown right beside me!

I didn’t like dogs before, but I am happy to have one now. Do you know why?

About two years ago, my wife, Cathy, got a little dog with a face only the dog’s mother could love. We named her Gertie.

My wife sent her to be trained（训练）in a school. But this didn’t go as planned. After only 2 weeks, she was made to leave the school. She had to spend every night with us in our bed—snoring—so loudly that I couldn’t get a good sleep. In the morning, my wife always let me walk Gertie. When I was free, Gertie always played with me.

Then, about six months after Gertie arrived. I felt that something in my heart was changing, and I was unable to stop it. I began to smile at people when I saw them in the street. I started calling my children, and to my surprise, they started calling me, too. I even tried to talk with my grandchildren over the phone. My wife and I both think that it is Gertie who has changed me.

Gertie is now nearly two years old and I love it very much.

Everybody makes decisions in daily life. They can be as important as what you will do in the future or as simple as what you will eat for breakfast. Any decision could be the turning point of your life.

I made an important decision when I was in Junior 3.

Before I made that decision I was one of the boys who tried too hard to act as an adult. I didn’t know that only kids want to show themselves as adults.

I didn’t listen to my parents and teachers, and my grades became poor. Then came the high school entrance exam.

At the turning point of my life, my mom wanted to have a conversation with me. I wanted to turn it down but when I looked at her eyes, I felt I couldn’t refuse. Instead of asking me to study hard, to my surprise, Mom just asked what I wanted to do in the future. Without thinking too much, I just said I would like to study hard.

Mom smiled and asked again: “I asked: what do you want to do?”

I never seriously thought about the question. So, I kept silent.

“Whether you want to go on studying or enter the society,” she went on, “it is your own decision. Your life ought to be decided by you, not by anyone else, including me.” After saying that, she had tears in her eyes.

For the first time in my life I was asked to make my own decision. I sat in my chair and thought about myself, my life and what kind of person I wanted to become.

It took me what seemed to be ages to make the biggest decision so far in my life-I wanted to be a man who makes a difference in the world. To achieve that, I needed to study hard.

The path to my future became clear to me. I didn’t act rebelliously (叛逆地) any more. With passion (激情) in my heart, I studied hard.

Now, I’m 17 and I’m in one of the best schools in my city, in one of the best classes at the school and I am one of the best students in the class.

Thanks to that decision, I have become what I am today.