1 . I love everything about animals. Today, I went out for a simple walk to my library, when I _______________a dog! The dog looked like a German Shepard, and I, being an animal _______________, approached it. I noticed it had a _______________, but no leash. I tried asking multiple people around the dog if it _______________them, but everyone said no. I felt so bad, and didn’t know what to do. She was so friendly and sweet that I felt _______________about just leaving her there.

Then, what do you know? She started _______________me! I couldn’t help but smile at that. I was the only one who showed any _______________in her, petting her, talking to her, walking with her. So, together, we walked towards the _______________. I finally got a chance to _______________the number on her collar, but no one picked up! I was so ________________about this animal, and I was determined to not just leave it ________________around. I planned to head to a pet store.

However, before I even got to a store, a car ________________up in front of me with a father and two kids. It turns out that she was their dog, and had gotten ________________when the little boy opening their fence! They were so relieved to find her, and ________________me non-stop. I was relieved too! The dog ________________jumped into the car and I said goodbye to her.

2 . My name is Maggie and I am a big red maple tree in the center of Central Park in New York. Every part of me is _________ shaped. I love seeing all the people _________, stare at me, and say “That tree is beautiful!” Those _________ make me feel special.

One day, I see a big storm _________ my way. I can hear all the frightening sounds nearing, but the most frightening one is the sound of almost half of my bark being torn off. I feel _________. What will people think when they walk up to a worn-down tree in the middle of Central Park? Will they cut me down? This _________ makes my branches ache.

Hours later, when the storm _________, a nice opossum family comes to me and asks _________ they can spend the night in one of my holes. The baby opossum is so cute that I can’t _________. Soon, round two of the storm comes. It __________ another part of my bark, but it doesn’t __________ me as much because I have a distraction: the opossum family. Other animals see my __________ act and come to me, too. Even though I feel great for __________ all the animals, I still haven’t completely forgotten about what people might think about my __________. Beyond all expectations, people love me even more for protecting all those animals from the terrible storm. This serves as a __________ to me that “beautiful” doesn’t always refer to looks.

6 . A Pair of Wild Geese

One morning in early fall, I noticed a pair of wild geese on our pond. The beautiful sight caught me by surprise, because we’d never seen geese there before.

I thought they would soon be on their way, so I seized the opportunity to be _________ to these graceful creatures. As the days passed, my curiosity about why they were staying so long at the pond changed to concern. It wouldn’t be long before the cold Michigan winter came and the pond _________over.

One day as they were _________ in the grass near the driveway, I discovered the reason for their _________ — the male had a broken left wing. He was unable to _________, and his lifelong mate would not leave him behind. I was amazed at the _________ between them. I asked a wildlife biologist friend what I should do. He explained that sometimes a broken wing would _________ by itself and suggested letting them alone.

On the first day of November, I was working near the geese with my tractor. _________ I bent to fasten a chain, I noticed both geese running toward the pond, wings beating _________. They looked like a couple of planes moving for take­off. __________, both were in the air and flew over the pond freely. The geese then circled back toward me, flying about 50 feet over my __________ as if to say goodbye. Then they were out of __________.

The season’s first snowflakes fell the very next day. The birds must have __________ that winter was coming, and it was time to go.

I grew fond of them during their stay at our pond, and I __________ them. I would never forget their __________ to each other. We could all learn a lesson or two from this pair.

9 . My wife and I usually don’t keep houseplants. Anything in pots gets either overwatered or underwatered. But after my diagnosis with a brain cancer, I loved the idea of having something green and _________ around us.

Last year, my friend Mitch gave me a lucky bamboo plant. _________ the plant gave me a sense of achievement at a time when I sometimes felt _________ because my ability to move was limited. As a physician, I was used to being the one who _________ care. Watering the plant _________ me to a core part of my old identity and _________ me that I could still be a caregiver.

However, after several weeks growing in perfect condition, the plant _________ began to show signs of stress. No matter what I did, the leaves kept _________ and dropping to the floor.

“I can’t even care for a simple plant!” I yelled. “If my lucky bamboo dies, I might die too!”

Identifying with the green and growing plant had offered me _________. But when the tree was struggling, I felt increasingly uneasy and ____________.

It was several months later when I recovered from surgery that I realized I had ____________ linked my careful nurturing of the plant — something over which I had at least some control — with my own ____________ — something over which I had no control.

As my ____________ lessened, I began to study online tutorials to figure out how to care for the tree. I ________________ it to a larger pot, and when it was back in the sunny window, we both began to thrive (旺盛) again.

Now whenever I look at the tree in its new pot, I make a point to relax and think of the things I can ____________.

10 . One day last summer, my 9-year-old son Ben and I were riding the waves at a popular ocean beach on outer Cape Cod. As we were playing happily with our surfboard, I suddenly noticed an astonishing ________—some whales were spouting (喷水) well within view of where we ________.

We stared and pointed in ________. “Ben, can you believe it?” I cried. “We’re swimming with the whales!” “Mom,” Ben said in reply, “we’re always swimming with the whales. This is their________, not ours!”

Ben’s words took my breath away, more than the dramatic waves and the amazing sight of the________.

He was absolutely________, of course. These whales live in the waters off Cape Cod. This is their home—one that we ________, love and protect. So when we set foot into a ________ space, it’s meaningful and important to ________ that we are visiting something that is beautiful and enjoyable to us, but is not ________ for us.

We each have a part to play in ________space. When we acknowledge our coexistence, as Ben________, we set ourselves up for success in how we interact with each other. This is as ________ in the vastness of the ocean as it is in our ________ where we live, work, play and serve.

How we ________ and support each other in this vast ocean of life—that’s up to us.