Today, my younger brother turned 7. He has severe mental disabilities that prevent him from talking properly. It takes him a long time to study a word and get it right. In fact, there are only 12 words he can say properly. One of them is my name. MMT

Today, my dad turned 91. He barely has enough strength to speak. But every time my mom (she’s 84) walks into the room to check on him, he says, “Hello beautiful.” MMT

Today, I found an old hand written note my mom wrote when she was a senior in high school. On it is a list of qualities she hoped she would someday find in a boyfriend. The list is basically an exact description of my dad, who she didn’t meet until she was 27. MMT

Today, our daughter – our only child – earned a full academic scholarship to Yale University – the school she’s wanted to go to for as long as I can remember. She starts next fall. My husband and I have been working two jobs for the last 12 years so that we could pay for her undergrad tuition. Today, her hard work just gave us the best gift in the world: time. Now that we don’t have to pay for her tuition, we have enough money to retire almost 10 years earlier than we had planned. MMT

Today, on my first day of active duty, I wore my Marine Corps uniform for the very first time. A woman came up to me at the gas station on my way to the base, grasped my hand in hers, smiled and said, "Thank you!" MMT

Today, an older man and woman walked in and sat at the bar in the five star hotel where I work. They were under-dressed and reminded most of the staff of the kind of cheap tourists that are demanding and tip poorly. Since I’m the newest waitress at the bar, my colleagues insisted that it was my duty to wait on them. So I did. It turned out the man and woman were the owners of the hotel (their son now runs the company… who we’ve all met before). They tipped me $100 bill and said they were going to put in a good word for me with their son. MMT

Today is my 18th birthday. Just over 18 years ago a woman was faced with the harsh fact that she had already had four miscarriages and one stillbirth. As she was pregnant for the 5th time, doctors informed her that her pregnancy was extremely risky and life threatening to her health. They said there was a good chance either the baby or her wouldn’t make it. She chose to give the baby a chance anyway. My mom and I both made it and are still totally healthy to this day. MMT

Today, when I came out to my dad, he stared at me with a blank expression for a prolonged moment, then up at the ceiling, then back at me, smiled, hugged me, and said, “Well, I guess we’ll have to modify the ‘No boys until you're 25” rule. MMT

Today, when I asked my 9-year-old brother what physical attribute he likes most about himself, he said “My eyes! They allow me to see you.” I laughed and replied, “Well, what physical attribute do you like most about me?” He pointed at the small birthmark on my neck, which I have always been extremely self-conscious about, and said, “I wish I had a birthmark too. One like yours, that nobody else has.” MMT

Today, my dad, who is 62-years-old, was reunited with his twin brother. They just found out about each other last week after my dad’s twin did extensive family tree research on their biological parents. Both of them were put up for adoption at different times – one by their biological mother, and the other by their biological father. And their adopted parents were never informed of the other twin. MMT

Today, my great-grandma and great-grandpa celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. They are 93 and 95 years old. MMT

Today, I pulled up to a red light at an empty intersection around 6AM with my windows down. I didn’t have the radio on, but I was singing ‘I Would Do Anything For Love’ by Meat Loaf, almost at the top of my lungs. I thought I was all alone until a lady I didn’t see sitting at the bus stop started singing along with me at the top of her lungs. I paused for a second, but she kept singing, so then I joined her for a few lines before the light turned green. MMT

Today, as I pulled into my apartment complex I noticed my neighbor, who’s got to be about 8 months pregnant, struggling with her groceries. I stopped and helped her bring them up the stairs into her apartment. This evening, when I got home from the gym I found a freshly baked apple pie sealed in Tupperware sitting on my doorstep with a note that said, “I used the ingredients you helped me carry to bake this. Enjoy!” MMT

Today, as I was driving on Interstate 95 in Miami, traffic suddenly stopped. Why? Because the semi-truck in front of me pulled across three lanes of traffic and stopped to let a mother duck and her 10 baby ducklings finish crossing the highway unharmed. MMT

Today, I was standing at a crosswalk in the rain waiting for the light to change when the girl next to me pushed her large umbrella a little to the right so that it covered both of our heads. We then looked at each other for a prolonged moment and exchanged smiles before we crossed the street and walked in separate directions. MMT

Today, I met the prettiest woman on an airplane. After some small talk, and under the assumption that I wouldn't see her again after we made our connections in Atlanta, I told her how pretty I thought she was. She gave me the most sincere smile and said, “Nobody has said that to me in 10 years." It turns out we’re both in our mid-30’s, never married, no kids, and we live about 5 miles away from each other in Dallas. We have a date set for next Saturday after we return home. MMT

Today, my son was declared “perfectly normal” by his pediatrician, and successfully made it through his first day of pre-school. When he was 8 weeks old, he was shaken near to death by his biological father. He spent the next 8 weeks in intensive care, and I was told my baby would never “be a normal child.” MMT

Today, exactly 5 years after the neck injury (and surgery) that stopped me from playing hockey and rugby - the two things I loved to do most - I realized that I found new things to love, like playing piano and singing - which I actually do full time now in an off-Broadway play. MMT

Today, my mom received the surgery she needed to remove a malignant tumor from her abdomen. My family has been struggling without medical insurance since my dad lost his job last year. My sister and I have been openly discussing my mom’s medical dilemma on Facebook. Last week, a friend of a friend, who is a veteran cancer treatment surgeon who owns his own practice, saw our comments on Facebook and volunteered to help my mother for free. MMT

Today, after I loaded all of the groceries and my kids into the car, I wanted to be courteous and put the shopping cart in the cart return area across the parking lot, but I didn’t want to leave my kids in the car alone. The teenager getting into the car next to me noticed my reluctance and volunteered to return it for me. He even made funny race car noises as he pushed the cart away to make my kids laugh. It worked, and made me laugh too. MMT