After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my mother, who has been alone for 19 years after my father’s death, but my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her few times. That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.

“______” she asked. My mother is the type of woman who thinks that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.

“I thought that it would be pleasant to be with you,” I answered “Just the two of us.”

She thought about it for a moment, and agreed.

That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up, I was bit nervous.

When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seem to be nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on. She had curled* her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary*. I told my friends I was going out with my son, and they were impressed,” she said, as she got into the car. “They can’t wait to hear about our meeting.”

We went to a nice and comfortable restaurant. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady. During the dinner, we had an enjoyable conversation. We talked so much that we missed the movie.

As we arrived at her house later, she said, “I’ll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.” I agreed.

A few days later, my mother died of a serious heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t have time to do anything for her.

Some time later, I received a note with a restaurant receipt* from the same place mother and I had dined. The note said:

“I have paid this bill. I wasn’t sure that I could be there. I paid for two plates-one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me. Nothing in life is more important than the family. I love you, son.”

That day, I came back home early with a bunch of flowers for my wife and said “I LOVE YOU!”. Later that night, crept into my kids’ bedrooms and kissed them.

Li Wei is a young man who is named “Strong Brother” by netizens(网友). He worked on his knees all the way to the 2011 national college entrance examination (高考) room. He was born in a poor family in Shanxi Province. But unluckily, a traffic accident took away his legs when he was only three years old. His life has changed since then. Without feet, he had to spend most of his time practicing walking on his hands and knees. Everybody who sees Li Wei for the first time is surprised to see that he can easily play tennis or climb upstairs without feet. Some people even think he still has feet or has short legs.

With hard work, Li Wei finished all his school study. In 2011, he became a student in Chongqing Normal University. And he got a new pair of artificial(人造的) legs from China Disabled Person’ Federation(残联).

He likes the popular song which says “I know my future is not a dream. I will live happily for every minute of my life. My future is not a dream. My heart moves with the hope.” Follow your dream and it will come true one day.

Having an elder brother means walking in someone else’s shadow(影子), especially when he is very cool. For years I wanted to do everything my elder brother Tyson did and be cool as him. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t run so fast as him or play football well.

I would probably continue trying to keep up with him for the rest of my high school, but when my family moved 3 years ago, everything changed.

Tyson left for college, so I had to start at a new school all by myself. This new start gave me a chance to discover a totally new way of being cool.

I was always interested in chemistry and biology, so one day I joined in a science team. Since those interests didn’t fit Tyson’s way of “cool”, I never tried them before. On this day, for some reason, I did.

As we organized teams, prepared materials and practiced answering questions, I felt more connected than I ever had to any sports team. I didn’t have to keep up with anybody else. For the first time in my life, I actually felt cool.

Now I know who I am! I’m Tyson’s little brother, but that’s only part of me. I’m a cool guy in my own way, too. I’m glad to know that “cool” has broader(广泛的) meanings than what I used to think.