A few years ago, I was with a close friend in a grocery store in California. As we walked along the aisle (过道), we became _______ of a mother with a small boy going in the opposite direction. The woman don’t noticed us because she was so _______ with her child, who _____ to eagerly pull items off the lower shelves. As the mother became more and more annoyed, she started to _______ at her son and progressed to shaking him by the arm.

At this point my friend spoke up. A wonderful mother of three, she had probably ______ in her life ____any child so harshly (严厉地). I _______ my friend would give this woman a serious _______ about the effect of this kind of behavior on the boy. However to my _______, my friend said, “What a(n) ______ little boy. How old is he?” The woman answered, “He’s three.” My friend went on to say how _______ he seemed and how her own three children _______ in the grocery store, pulling things off shelves. “He seems so bright,” my friend said. A(n)________ smile came to the woman’s face. She said, “Yes, he’s very smart, _______ sometimes he wears me out.” My friend responded, “They can do that; they’re so _______.”

As we _______ away, I heard the mother speaking more ______ to the boy about getting home and cooking his dinner. “We’ll have your favorite foods,” she told him.

How _______ my friend achieved harmony in the situation! Really, although sometimes it’s necessary to _____someone physically from hurting another person, more often it is helpful that we show love and _____to those lost in anger, allowing them to remember their own tenderness (温柔).

My parents divorced when I was five. I don’t remember them ________ more than “hi” or “bye” to each other for the rest of my childhood. I went to my dad’s house every other weekend, and they didn’t really ________ each other during the time. Years later, when my dad developed Alzheimer’s ________, my husband and I invited him to move in with us and our four children.

“Mom, how are we going to ________ this?” I asked. “Papa is going to be here ________, but we still want you to come and visit. We don’t want it to be strange.”

“Not a ________,” Mom replied ________. “We are just going to get over our past and all be friends.” Hearing this, I was so ________.

At our first family dinner together, I sat next to my husband and I ________: Mom, Papa, and my stepdad Doug, all at the same table.

“Strangest thing ever.” I ________ to my husband.

“Yes, but nobody else seems to think so,” he replied. “It’s ________.”

For the next ten years, Papa lived with us, and ________ Mom and Doug came over, the three of them would chat like old ________. My whole childhood, I had wished that my three parents could all ________ along. And here they were. It wasn’t exactly what I’d had in ________. But maybe this is what life truly means.

Growing older is unavoidable while growing up is optional. These words have been passed on in the loving 1 of Rose.

On the first day of school our professor challenged us to get to know someone, so I 2 to find a little old lady looking at me with a smile. She said, “Hi, handsome! My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a 3 ? ” I laughed and 4 responded, then followed a giant squeeze. “ 5 come that are you in college at such an innocent age?” I asked. “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of kids... ” I was 6 what it was that motivated her to be taking on this 7 at her age. “I always dreamed of having a college education and now I 8 it!” Later, we became friends.

Rose became a campus celebrity and she easily made friends 9 she went. On one 10 Rose was invited to speak at our football banquet. Her prepared cards dropped before she 11 the speech. A little 12 , she simply 13 her throat and began, “We do not stop playing 14 we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are certain secrets to stay 15 , being happy and achieving success. You’ve got to have a dream. When you 16 your dreams, you die.”

At the end of the year Rose finished her college education. One week after graduation Rose died 17 in her sleep. Over two thousand college students 18 her funeral in honor of the wonderful woman who taught by 19 that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.

Anybody can grow older, which doesn’t 20 any talent or ability. The key is to grow up by always finding opportunities in change.