5 Most Uplifting Stories of the Week

A dying father's dedication to his daughter and a surgeon who wouldn't be stopped by a storm make the list:

• Dying Dad Writes 800 Notes for Daughter's Lunch: Garth Callaghan has been leaving inspirational notes in his daughter's lunch since her days in kindergarten—but now that he's dying of cancer, they both know that one day the notes will have to stop. In the meantime, he's writing hundreds of them ahead of time.
• Surgeon Walked 6 Miles in Snowstorm to Operate: Dr. Zenko Hrynkiw was needed for an emergency brain surgery at Birmingham's Trinity Medical Center on Tuesday morning, but he was six miles away at another hospital, with a snowstorm raging and traffic at a standstill. Solution? He walked through the storm.
• Boy Born Without Arms Starts Playing the Trumpet: How's this for inspiring: A 10-year-old student born with no arms has taken up the trumpet and even played it at his school's annual winter concert. Incredibly, Jahmir Wallace has learned to play the instrument with his feet.
• Teacher Builds Quiet Fortune, Leaves $8M to Charity: Margaret Southern lived a private life in her modest South Carolina townhouse. No one but her investment manager suspected the 94-year-old had millions stashed away until she died in October 2012, leaving an $8.4 million fortune to charity.
• 'Ingenious' System Helps Teacher Spot Troubled Kids: Every Friday, this teacher asks each student to give her a list of four classmates with whom they'd like to sit and to name one kid who has been an "exceptional classroom citizen." The idea isn't to create a new seating chart or a hokey award, however. She pores over the lists looking for lonely kids, the ones falling through the cracks, and she's done it every week since Columbine.

Click for more uplifting news, including a story about a baby born in an Atlanta traffic jam. (More uplifting news stories.)