1. Egypt’s Great Pyramids
2. Taj Mahal
3. Grand Canyon
4. Panama Canal
5. Empire State Building
6. St. Peter’s Basilica
7. China’s Great Wall

While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student had not finished her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, “Yes, a little. I couldn’t quite make up my mind because there were so many.”

The teacher said, “Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help.

“The girl hesitated, then read, “I think the ‘Seven Wonders of the World’ are:

1. To See

2. To Hear

3. To Touch

4. To Taste

5. To Feel

7. And to Love

The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for granted are truly wondrous!

A gentle reminder — that the most precious things in life cannot be built by hand or bought by man.

6-Year-Old Girl with Brain Cancer Hid Love Notes for Her Parents to Find After Her Death

When 6-year-old Elena Desserich was diagnosed with brain cancer, she began hiding hundreds of little love notes around the house for her parents to find after she was gone. Here’s the story:

Just before her sixth birthday, Elena Desserich (right) was diagnosed with brain cancer and given 135 days to live. She lived 255 days, passing away in 2007. After her death, Elena’s parents, Brooke and Keith, found hundreds of notes from Elena hidden around the house — in between CD cases, between bookshelves, in dresser drawers, in backpacks….

"It just felt like a little hug from her, like she was telling us she was looking over us"

Elena left hundreds of notes like these:

Elena’s parents, Brooke and Keith Desserich, have now published these notes in a book called Notes Left Behindto fund a non-profit organization The Cure Starts Now dedicated to fighting pediatric brain cancer.

Ah, this broke my heart, but the story is too touching not to share. Excuse me while I, erhm, dry my eyes. Got dust in ‘em or something.

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Brooke has her note. I have mine. They are tucked away in our briefcases; always with us, never out of reach. I found mine in the black backpack that we took to Elena’s wish trip. Brooke found her letter in the side pocket of her briefcase, where Elena had put it many months before. These are two of many letters that Elena hid for us in the last nine months of her life—some hidden between books on the bookshelf, in the corners of our dresser drawers, or between dishes in the china cabinet. Each note deliberately left professing her love for her family. They are constant reminders of her determination and her inspiration. She knew somehow that one day we would need them to continue.

-Dad