1 . My 70-year-old mother was fighting an 18-year battle with cancer. It was a battle I knew she would someday______.Maybe soon. And it______my heart to think about that.

Mom and I had a good relationship, but we just weren’t______in the way I was with my daughter. Mom and I never______or said “I love you” like I often do with my daughter. Sometimes I felt______about Mom’s love for me. Then the pandemic hit. Our city was in lockdown to______the possible infection(感染). Therefore, I didn’t come to Mom’s place but made daily phone calls instead. We didn’t say too much, but we knew we cared about each other. “ I’ve set about quilting(缝被子), and I’ll make one for you,” my mother announced______over the phone one day. I tried to ______her suggestion as it was too tiring for her, but she insisted.

My quilt was Mom’s last one. A month later, I got a call from Dad saying Mom was gone. A great sense of_______overwhelmed me-the pandemic took away my last chance to see Mom and show my love to her.

One day, I decided to give quilting a(n)______myself for my daughter. I carefully______the fabric(面料) I thought she would enjoy, and maybe I was still trying to make a______between Mom and myself in this way. I always thought what had______her to quilting late in life. I imagined asking her for______       on how to make the right stitches(针脚). Sometimes I’d______us sitting together in the living room watching TV together.

Finally, I got the quilt Mom______ me. I opened it and what I saw caught my______.It was exactly the same fabric I had chosen for my daughter. Yet something far more difficult to______at last became clear. Mom, in her own way, had ______ said those three beautiful words “I love you” I______ to hear.