In my teens, I went far from home to study at TWU in America. Due to limited financial resources from my parents, I worked part-time on campus to pay for my bills. I did cleaning every Friday for an American family. If I was lucky enough, I could occasionally babysit a child for extra money. In addition, like most poor people, I had to be careful with every penny I spent, from food and clothing to rent and transportation. Because of a tight grocery budget, I couldn't afford to buy fish, beef or certain other nutritious food. Due to an imbalanced diet, I would easily feel weak and lacking in energy.
As soon as Dai Mom realized that I was having financial hardship, she lovingly invited me to her home for dinner every Friday and weekend. What's more, whenever it was time to return home, she would always prepare me with some homemade desserts to take home. Her actions greatly changed my life. In particular, there was one event that I would always remember.
One early evening, while I was walking out of the library, I felt my blood sugar running low. I started to feel dizzy, and my hands began to shake a little. Searching my pocket, I found that I only had a few dollars left. I was dying for a free and tasty dinner. Without a second thought, I quickly headed for Dai Mom's home, rather than go back to my apartment.
As I got to the door, Dai Mom immediately noticed my extreme tiredness. She seated me at the dinner table, and before long, a plate of food was set in front of me on the table. "My boy, have dinner. Don't make yourself work so hard." she said to me with a nice smile.
Staring at the meat, vegetables and fish on my plate, I suddenly felt so carefully taken care of that tears started welling up in my eyes, rolling down on my face, and dripping to the food on the plate. I gobbled up all the food with indescribablybitter-sweet feelings.
