Grow Up, Stay Young I had trouble sleeping that night. My younger sister's peaceful, rhythmic breathing from across the room failed to calm me as I lay in the dark under the covers, listening to the heavy footsteps of an elderly man shuffling across the downstairs floor of my house. With one hand gripping Red Blankie tightly, I turned the alarm clock on the bedside table towards me with the other. The fluorescent red digits whispered 12:03 in the silent, dark room. Maybe it will come soon. Delicate tingles danced along my arms as I froze like a nervous cat, ears up, ready and alert. I rehearsed the carefully planned sequence of events in my head. A suspicious, unfamiliar sound coming from the living room would be my cue: a wet snow boot hitting the carpet, a clumsy hand inadvertently knocking over a plate on the fireplace, or a rustling of papers. Carefully, I slipped out of my flowery bed without waking my sleeping sister, tiptoed gently across the bedroom floor to the cold hallway, and descended the first five steps, avoiding creaky spots in the floor along the way. There, peering around the corner of the wall that ended at the fifth step, I would finally see the mysterious man that no one in my family - not mom, not dad, and obviously not little Ming - had ever seen. The bearded man would wear a red suit with white trim. His name was Santa Claus. Mum and Dad had told me that Santa Claus and his nine reindeer would come to put the presents under the tree only after I fell asleep, but of course they didn't know about my brilliant plan to catch the old man in the act. Squinting under the meager moonlight streaming through my bedroom window, I forced my… medium of paper… power to believe in abstractions other than the man with the white beard – entities like “destiny.” or “true love” which may seem equally fanciful. I also have the ability to imagine a society that does not use bombs to resolve disagreements and can instead rely on reason and diplomacy. The idealistic idea that one person can make a difference in the world motivates me every day in my quest to become a doctor. As a child, I read the story of Peter Pan, a teenager who refused to grow up and therefore remained in Never Never. Earth, a magical place where he would not age and could spend his days on spectacular adventures. I hope that as I get another year older, I can always keep a little Peter Pan in my spirit, that I can see a story in even the simplest things around me, and that I continue, every Christmas Eve, to leave cookies and milk for Santa Christmas.