1 . I was a stay-at-home mother and there never was enough money to go around. So on my mother's birthday, I had no money to _________ a present. So I decided to make some cookies for her and leave a _________ .

Sitting down to write a few words of good wishes got me to _________ . There were many things that I did appreciate（感激）, so I decided to list all of them. Pretty soon, I had several pages of _________ thoughts, so I wrote a letter to my mother expressing my appreciation for the things she and my father had _________ us as children.

My mother taught us to be good neighbors by _________ others if they needed a hand. My father taught us how to work. The _________ went on and on.

I put the cookies and the letter on the table in her kitchen. That evening, she called and _________ me. She said it was a wonderful birthday _________ .

Two years later, she passed away. While cleaning out her house, I __________ a photocopy（复印件）of the birthday letter. I was __________ as to why she would make a copy.

But then I got my __________ . Room after room, I found eight more photocopies of the same letter. When I __________ the drawer（抽屉）beside her bed, I __________ an old handkerchief（手帕）with a piece of paper in it.

It was the original birthday letter. I realized that the letter was the __________ present I could have ever given to my mother.