1 . My mom, who was 95, lived in an assisted living care center in St. Paul, Minnesota. I drove up from Chicago one weekend for a_______ .

Her eyesight had grown_______ so she couldn’t read the newspapers. Her memory was___________. But her deep love for us, her four___________and her grandkids, and of life, still___________although not so brightly. I told Mom that her hands looked really_______and asked if she’d like someskin cream.

“Sure,” she said.

So I rubbed some Jergen’s lotion into her leathery palms and bent_______,which used to play the piano so_______. As I did this, she closed her eyes and_______ a deep sigh.

“That feels good,” she said.

That was the ________ conversation I had with my dear Mom________. She died two months later. So I’m ________now, on Mother’s Day, with this picture of her beautiful 95-year-old hands and all the ________ they carried.

Those are the hands that ________ me out of the baby bed when I was crying, and that rubbed my neck shoulders when I was an ________, pimply (长着粉刺的) teenager.

Those were the hands that ________ eggs and squeezed orange juice-all for me and my three brothers and my father. And those were the hands that ________me how to play the piano, in the hope I’d learn how to make music and know its impressive ________ and power.

All I know to say this Mother’s Day is the same ________ , inadequate phrase I used to say to her all the time and that I now hear our three kids say to my________, Carol.

“Thanks, Mom.”

2 . Months ago someone gave us a dish-washing machine as a gift. We already had a part-time worker who cleaned our bowls and _________ at home. There was no doubt that we _________ touched the new machine.

Alice, our neighbor was _________ the next week to a new house and I went to ask her whether the machine might be something she could _________. It turned out that she immediately said _________. She had a big family and her daughters had asked if they could get a dish-washing machine. And then she didn’t have to spend money to _________ one!

I couldn’t tell you how overjoyed I was to see her daughters’ _________ looks when they came over to get it. And they were even more excited about the _________ seeds (种子) I gave them. I hoped they would plant more flowers in their new home so that they would always have a piece of our _________ with them. Of course, I would miss them, too.

I __________ a pink heart on the front of our house while they were having their going-away __________. We also joined in their dinner and dance. I haven’t had the “heart” washed off yet either. I told her that maybe after they __________, I would wash it off or maybe not—I liked being reminded that our hearts would be __________ forever.

The __________ thing is that my neighbor’s daughters will still work in our town, and I’d like them to come to our house often. I want to tell them our door is always __________ for them here.

3 . When our three kids were young, we had days that went on for life times, As I watched my husband Crag leave every morning, I felt _______ to have so much time alone with my babies. When Craig _______ each evening, he would smile and ask, “So! How was your day?”

This question showed the _______ between his experience of a “day” and mine. How was my day? I _______ Craig as the kids screamed loudly around. Then I looked down at my dirty T-shirt and the toys littering the floor.

I wanted to say, “Today has been a _______ There were moments when I was so fed up with the mess that I thought I might _______. I was both lonely and _______ to be alone.” But busy with so much housework, I was too tired to _______. So I just said, “Fine.” But I felt sad because _______ is about being seen and known.

So we decided to ________ help. We learned from the counselor（咨询师） that love is ________ and we shouldn't ask the same empty questions like: “How was your day?” ________ , we can ask questions like: When did you feel loved or lonely today? A ________ question is a key that will unlock a room inside the person you love.

Questions are like gifts. It's the ________ behind them that the receiver feels. The more ________ you give to your questions, the more beautiful the answers become.

4 . Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something _________ to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would _________, “If I were any better,I would be twins!”

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had _________ him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his _________. He was a natural motivator (激发者). If an employee was having a _________ day, Jerry was there comforting _________ how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style _________ made me curious,so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, “I don’t get it! Not everyone can be a positive _________ all of the time. How do you do it?”

Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and _________ to myself, ‘Jerry, you have two choices today. You can __________ to be either in a good mood or in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad   __________, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to __________ it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me __________,I can choose to __________ their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”

“Yeah, right. But it’s not that __________.” I protested.

“Yes,it is.” Jerry said. “Life is all about __________. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you __________ to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you __________.”

I __________ on what Jerry said. Soon there after, I left the __________ industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

5 . Most parents already know that family mealtimes are great for children. But what may come as ________ news to parents is that these shared meals are also good for ________.

When kids are present at ________, parents may eat more ________, perhaps to ________ good behavior and provide the best food they can to their kids. Parents who dine with their kids also tend to report less ________ and overeating. Parents may avoid some of these destructive behaviors when they know their ________ are watching and ready to ________.

Researchers have also found that having frequent family meals is associated with better ________ health for both mothers and fathers, despite mothers’ carrying more of the ________ of meal preparation. Compared with parents who ________ ate family meals, parents who regularly ________ with their kids reported higher levels of family functioning, greater self-esteem and lower levels of ________ symptoms and stress. Since it’s the atmosphere at the dinner table that ________ most considerably to emotional well-being, takeout or prepared food eaten at home will ________ nicely too.

Just as for children, family dinner is the most reliable time of the day for adults to ________ and talk to others. It’s a time to step away from video calls, emails and to-do lists, and ________ connect face to face. Dinnertime often ________ for a few laughs, a time to decrease the ________ and also to talk about the day’s events and what tomorrow ________.

6 . A couple of weeks back, my darling wife had been asking me to come over to my son’s school (where she teaches) and teach the pupils “Origami”, a Japanese art of ________paper into different objects. My 7-year-old son had no ________of my coming and that makes it ________for me.

We were about to take the ________when I got my first “starring moment”. “Who is this daddy? Why is he walking in a funny way? How is he going to climb the stairs?” ________these, my wife helped me with one of my crutches(拐杖).

Little did I know that the first class she’s taking me to ________to be my son’s. On opening the door, with no warning, and to the ________of his classmates, came that unique but ________ scream “Daada!!!”and he practically ran out of his classroom to give me a bear hug. His mates couldn’t help staring with envy and ________!

I sat down, made my introduction and gave   ________on paper-folding. They all clapped and ________their thanks even as I made my way to the next class.

I left that school feeling ________.What more do I want but to continually be ________to God for everything? My wife has always seen me as a physically fit person who can ________any task and now I find my 7-year old boy is actually ________ of me!

7 . My father and I have always had a difficult relationship. He thought I wasn’t what a good daughter should be. Whatever I did was never good enough in his eyes. So when I tried to look for approval, I was _______ disappointed.

My mother was gentler and when my father would _______ me, she’d have my back. Five years ago, she died from a disease and, _______ her there, my relationship with my father became _______. I felt like he was trying to control me and this caused _______ and panic in me. I realized that I couldn’t continue the _______ with him, so I left home eventually and _______ contact with him.

About a year later, I was out campaigning and I saw him alone. I _______ him and asked how he was. He was hesitant, but I could see in his eyes that he was _______ I’d come over. He said he was proud that he had a daughter who went to the House of Lords to talk about women’s rights. I realized that, having decided I didn’t need his ________, I finally had it.

Our relationship isn’t ________ now, but we see each other every few months and I value the time we have together. Last year, on his birthday, I sent him a card and he ________ phoned me to say thank you. I’ve realized that if you want to have somebody in your life, you have to ________ them as who they are. And I’m proud of myself. I don’t need anybody else to give me that sense of ________. And because of that, our relationship is no longer a ________.

8 . I was cleaning out a cupboard the other day when I made an amazing discovery. Inside I _________ the manuscript (手稿) for a novel. It included an outline of the _________ and a pile of typed pages telling a story. It was written, to my _________, by my father who has been dead for more than 50 years. It isn’t _________, as novels go, perhaps fifty or sixty typed pages, but without my _________ it has somehow accompanied me through my years of _________, several jobs, a marriage, the birth of my children and grandchildren, retirement and even a relocation across the country where I live.

Yet there it was, resting under a lot of paper to be recycled. I might have _________ my father’s legacy (遗产). I was truly _________ by my discovery.

I’m in the middle of reading another book _________ my dad’s novel has a place on my bed-side table. I want to have some __________ time for it so I haven’t __________ examined it yet. I’m going to spend a whole afternoon to give it the __________ it deserves. As yet I don’t know what the story line is about and I don’t even know if it is complete but I __________ a highly emotional process of finding out.

I find it fascinating to think that this could happen; that after more than fifty years my father could __________ his only son through the mists of time. It’s one of those things that we don’t see coming and that make life so __________.

9 . My younger brother has a strange relationship with birthdays. One year, he sent me an unexpected birthday card, which turned out to be a double _________ as it arrived four months after my birthday.

“You should just _________ when you feel like it, and not be restricted (限制) to a specific day,” he said.

“So basically, that means it doesn’t _________ when my birthday is. You just get to celebrate the day I was _________ any time you like, even though I _________ to celebrate it on the actual date?” I asked.

“You’ve always been a little over the top about _________,” he said.

“Fine. But I always remember yours,” I said. I would _________ forget the day he was born.

The first year my daughter was away at college, he missed her birthday. By then, we both knew her _________ had many great attributes (特征) except remembering birthdays.

Her birthday is in September. In January of the following year, she _________ a letter. It was from her uncle. No card. Just some __________ and a note that said, “Buy whatever you want.”

She later told me the special gift from her uncle __________ made her happy. The idea of surprising her when she was least __________ it was amazing.

And it continued. Once he __________ us with several stylish hats and it was no one’s birthday. He had described our __________ to the saleswoman and she had __________ what she thought each of us might like. And she was right; we all liked our gifts.

So this year I was a bit __________ when he called me the day after my birthday. Was his __________ attitude towards birthdays disappearing? Had he been dragged (拖) down by societal expectations to behave __________?

“I’m __________ I missed your birthday yesterday,” he said.

“You’re __________ to do that. It’s what makes you my brother,” I replied.

10 . 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.