On my third birthday, we moved to this neighborhood. Arlene and her husband, Bill, lived next door, who had no children. There weren't any_______my age nearby, so I mostly played in the yard alone. Arlene and Bill spent a lot of time working in the _______, and I was always talking to them from our yard. They were never tired of listening to me. I think what _______ me to them is that I also think they saw a lot of themselves in me — we were all lonely kids. It was a wonderful _______.

When I was about five, I had an idea _______ I took Bill and Arlene into our family as my grandparents. My parents made the _______ that I should ask them directly and so I did. They started crying and _______ accepted. It is truly wonderful for a child _______ her love and adults being so overjoyed to accept it. Every child in this world _______ enthusiastically repaid love.

From the day I accepted them, I called Bill and Arlene Grandpa and Grandma and my parents called them Mom and Dad. Over the years, Bill and Arlene ________ me in all my dreams. They encouraged me to ________ college, even though I didn't have the money to go. And when I was ________ to a university, they presented me with their savings. They told me they’d been ________ money since the day I called them grandparents. Four years later, I ________ and now work as an official.

Arlene passed away in 2013. Bill told me that Arlene thought the greatest ________ of her life was me, her granddaughter.