1 . It was just the three of us—my parents and me. My dad is a truck driver, and was gone most of the time, ______ supplies around the Midwest. So my mother was always like a ______ mother. We moved there on my third birthday. My first memory is our next-door ______ Arlene and her husband Bill, to whom I was always talking. I think what drew me to Arlene and Bill is that they never ______ listening to me. I also think Arlene saw a lot of herself in me-we were both lonely, anxious kids. Bill too. And that may be ______ she always took the time to listen to me. It was a wonderful ______.

One day, my parents asked Bill and Arlene whether they’d ______ me while they went out on a date. This worked well, so it became a monthly ______ .When I was about five, I had an idea, “What if Bill and Arlene ______ me as their granddaughter?” The next day, I knocked on their door, sat down in their living room, and asked, “Will you guys be my grandparents?” They started crying and ______ accepted. Soon after they printed an adoption certificate, and ______ it on their living room wall from then on. I was surprised that they took my offer so ______. They could have ______ it off. Thinking of that moment still brings tears to my eyes. There is something truly ______ about a child offering up her love and adults being so excited to accept it.

Over the years, Bill and Arlene ______ me in all my dreams. They encouraged me to apply for college. And when I got accepted to Colorado State University, they presented me with a ______. They told me they’d been putting away money for me.

Since I’ve become an adult, I’ve learned more about my grandparents. Both of them grew up poor. Their lives weren’t as ______ as they appeared to be. But the two of them always seemed genuinely happy in each other’s ______ .

Arlene passed away in 2013. Bill gave me the ring he’d ______ to Arlene on their 25^th wedding anniversary which I wear on my ring finger as a ______ of the kind of love I wish to put into this world.