3 . Maria’s Plans

Maria stared thoughtfully at the tree fort. It was the first thing her grandpa had built for her. She had been little — it was before her younger brothers had been born.

Of all her brothers, Maria felt that she was most like her grandpa. Grandpa had been a carpenter. Maria had always loved visiting him in his workshop. Only she had been allowed because she was the oldest. He could do anything with his own two hands, she thought________.

Recently, Maria had decided that she was going to build a tree swing. Now she was standing________the tree, with her rope, seat, and tools, thinking about the best way to________the swing. She could throw the ropes________the branch. But then how would she tie the knot? She would probably need to________a ladder.

“Hey, what’re you doing?” called a voice from a little distance away. Maria turned and saw her little brother Ricardo ran up to her. “None of your business,” she replied. Then, thinking better of it, she said, “________ a swing.”

“Really? Can I help?” Ricardo asked. Maria thought it over — it would be nice to have some help. But she was the builder in the family now, so she would have to solve her own problems. “No,” Maria said. “I don’t need any help.”

Suddenly, her other brother, Emil, came running towards them. “Hey, what’re you guys doing?”

“We’re building a swing,” Ricardo said.

“No, we’re not,” Maria said. “I am!”

“Can I help?” Emil asked. “No!” Maria was turning red. “This is my project. Not yours. You________even knew Grandpa.” She ran into the house, leaving Ricardo, Emil, and her materials beneath the tree.

“What’s wrong, Maria?” Grandma asked.

“Ricardo and Emil are bothering me,” Maria explained the situation.

“They’re just trying to help. And how are you going to do it all by yourself?”

“Grandpa didn’t need anyone’s help,” Maria said.

“Who do you think helped him cut the boards for your tree fort?”

Grandma asked. Maria was________. “But I don’t remember...”

“Maria, Grandpa was a great carpenter, but even great carpenters need help sometimes.________ he needed a second pair of hands, he’d ask me to help.” Grandma glanced out the window. “And it looked like you need help, too.”

Maria hurried outside. Ricardo and Emil were carrying the ladder in the yard, waving at Maria. Smiling, she began to wonder if she might not be the only one to________Grandpa.

4 . “How does the yard look?” my father asked, with his eys shining. I could tell he was eagerly waiting for my ______. “Wonderful!” I replied after I gave it a thorough inspection. Then I recited all the change I had ______ in his yard and he smiled contentedly.

When I was young, my mother ______ in a car accident, leaving my father alone to ______ their three young daughters. At the beginning, life was not always ______ and my younger sisters usually complained. However, Dad always ______ us to believe that life was good. Meanwhile, he tried his best to prove that belief.

In 1972, my dad developed a piece of waste land that had been ______ on Okaloosa Island. Every year at the first sign of ______, he would begin spending countless hours working there to make it be bursting with colours. Through his continuous hard work, the land ______ turned into a beautiful garden with different types of flowers and other unique plants. Dad made his yard very ______ so that it became our vacation paradise during our childhood.

For so many years, when we were ______, we liked to visit Dad’s yard, because it could ______ us of Dad’s belief. It was Dad and his yard that gave us ______ that enabled us to survive and ______ major challenges in life. One day, it shocked us that Dad said he would not ______ managing the yard. Then he explained, “Twenty years ago I decided to start my work in that yard to tell you life is good. Now my work is done.” We were sitting in silence, recalling what we had experienced. Life was good. Dad was right.

5 . I was an angry adolescent in my first year of college. One day I had a serious fight with my father.

I saw him as_________. I exploded in shouts and_________out. Running towards the classroom, I suddenly realized I didn’t have the assignment that was_________: a thought card. Professor Simon had explained every Tuesday we must_________ an index card, on which we wrote a thought or a question, and every Wednesday he’d return it with his_________ or answer on it. The card was our_________to class on Tuesdays.

So, outside the classroom, I took an index card and wrote “I’m the son of an idiot!”, as I could only think about the _________ I’d just had with my dad. I handed in the card, but soon_________ telling him about my dad, because I didn’t want to _________myself to him.

Wednesday, I got to class early and__________in the back. Dr. Simon began returning thought cards. On my card was written, “What does the ‘son of an idiot’ do with the rest of his life?” His question got right to the__________of the issue: Whose responsibility was it?

Dr. Simon’s comment kept emerging in my mind. Slowly, my thinking began to__________. People began to notice I was taking__________for my doings. My grades gradually improved. My relationship with my father also improved__________. Now I saw him as caring, instead of controlling. And it all__________with an innocent-seeming question.

7 . Never had a lovely sunflower been absent to my house on my birthday, since I turned 13. No cards or notes in it. Calls to the flower shop were always ______ — it was a cash purchase.

I never stopped ______ who the mysterious giver might be. Some of my happiest moments were spent daydreaming about someone wonderful but too shy to disclose his or her ______.

My mother even ______ my imaginations. She’d ask me if there was someone who I had done a special favor and then might be showing ______. As a teenager, ______, I had more fun assuming that it might be a boy I had a crush on.

When I was 17, I failed ______ in a significant test. That night when the result came. I just ______ myself to sleep. When I awoke in the morning, my mother comforted, “Don’t be discouraged! It’s not a big deal!” Yet, I remember ______ out of the house at that time, yelling... “You just don’t understand!”

One month before my graduation from high school, my father died of a heart attack. My feelings ranged from pain to ______ so that I became completely uninterested in the upcoming ceremony. But my mother, in the midst of her own grief, would deny my ______ any of those things. Before my father died, we had shopped a party dress which made me feel like a (an) ______ Cinderella. But it was the wrong size. Later I totally forgot about the dress.

My mother didn’t. The day before the dance, I found that dress, in the right size, ______ in the box to me — gracefully, and lovingly. She just wanted her child to feel loved and showed that there still existed magic and beauty even ______ hardships.

Actually, my mother passed away one week after I got married, That year the adorable sunflower stopped ______.

8 . Recently an old friend reached out to me to ask about the success I’ve had in my life and how I achieved it. He has similar _______ as me: get in shape, get into music more seriously, and be fluent in _______ .

Though I haven’t _______ reached my long term goals yet in any of these 3 aspects, he’s seen that I’ve made some _______ on my journey to achieving these goals and wanted my advice.

We had a nice hour and a half _______ about this and it seemed like he was pretty _______ by the end of the chat. A week went by and he told me that he _______ a personal fitness trainer, was _______ music theory, and sent me clips of him studying French. He’s posting _______ on social media about all of the progress he’s making. He’s doing great, full of motivation and ________ !

Eventually I’ll have to let him know that progress isn’t linear (线性的) and that he’ll undoubtedly ________ some hardships in the road, feeling depressed and disappointed. But I’m letting him enjoy the “beginner gains” in the meantime and will ________ him out when that time comes.

I’m ________ that he gave me the opportunity to serve him and offer him ________ , and I’m thankful to see that he’s ________ the time and money to improve his life. He has even ________ lately on the Twitter about how excited he is with all the ________ changes in his life and expressed his thanks to me.

Even if you’re still not where you want to be, there are a lot of people out there who want what you have now and who are ________ how far you’ve come. It feels so good to realize how much progress you’ve made, be ________ of yourself, and recognize how much you can help others ________ the same.