When my mother visits us from Korea, she spends countless hours preparing homemade meals every day.

She thoughtfully plates and _________ our family at the table. She pours the soup for her little granddaughters first, carefully checking its temperature to _________ it will not burn their tongues. She adds more salt and pepper into mine and her son-in-law has the most substantial portion (份). It is remarkable how effortlessly she makes a meal that feels _________ for each of us.

However, her cooking begins much earlier at the grocery store. She becomes the most cruel _________ of vegetables. “Iceberg lettuce goes bad soon.” “Those tomatoes _________ to be firmer, redder.” What’s more, all of our family’s wants are _________ imprinted inside her brain and _________ her hands as she adds items to the basket.

When you put so much _________ into a meal, it becomes a ritual (仪式). It is the only time when everyone _________, sits down and takes the time to taste each bite. The dining table __________ into the centre of the family’s conversation and connection. As we __________ each other’s struggles and victories, we offer support and advice. We update each other on our work projects and __________ ideas for future vacation plans.

In a fast-paced era, creating a homemade meal might seem highly __________. However, my 68-year-old mother treats it with such __________. I know it’s her way of expressing __________— that extra ingredient that goes into cur every meal.

When my daughter was in grade school, she brought home four tiny branches one day. They were small _________ given to the students to plant. None of them looked very strong, but with a _________ for the future, we planted them in our backyard. Over the years the _________ soil brought an end to three of them.

All that was _________ was a single evergreen. It never got very tall and _________to one side. Then, I noticed that it was starting to _________. The lower branches were becoming brown. Only the top ones of the tree were still _________.

I did my best to _________ it by feeding it a lot of fertilizer, but it seemed hopeless. One morning I went out and looked at it again, _________ if it would be better to just cut it down. As I __________ to take a closer look at it, however, I noticed something moving among the branches. It was a bird __________ building a nest in the topmost branches. I smiled and __________ that maybe this old tree had some life and usefulness left in it yet. It may not be healthy or pretty, but it was still giving a bird a __________.

This tree __________ me that all of our lives have a purpose. It doesn’t matter if we are young and strong, or old and sick. Until our last __________ we still have things to do: love for us to give, and joy for us to share. We can help to make this world a better and lovelier place.