1 . When I was a boy growing up I cannot once ever remember either my mom or my grandmother wasting food. Anything we didn't eat at one meal was _________, stored, and served as leftovers later on. I can _________ my grandmother making a huge pot of brown beans with a large cake of cornbread. We would all eat until we were _________ but there was always about half of the beans _________. A few days later Grandmother would take those _________ out of the refrigerator, boil pasta, add parsley and _________ them all together into her delicious Pasta Fasule (意大利面食). And I also remember when I _________ my mom fry bacon for us in the mornings she would always take the butter and _________ pour it into a container. Then she later would _________ it to flavor up (调味) so many other dishes.

I learned their __________ well and after I grew up I tried to never __________ food myself. I always __________ the week's meals ahead of time and only bought what was on my shopping __________ so nothing went to waste. Every   __________ went into our stomachs and any leftovers were later eaten by either myself, my boys, or my dogs. To me throwing food in the trash was just __________. All the work it took to grow it, harvest it, and prepare it needed to be     __________ and not wasted.

I __________ something else over the years, however: When it comes to __________ there are no leftovers. Each moment that you don't live is __________ forever. Life cannot be saved. Life cannot be __________. Life has to be lived, TODAY!