The arrival of spring always means a trip to the bamboo forest for Kaitlyn Hennacy and her family, followed by an afternoon making bamboo buns (包子). This ________ started when Hennacy’s mother and grandmother discovered ________ bamboo growing near the University of Maryland, where her mom was studying in the early 1990s. Hennacy said her grandmother immigrated to the U.S. from Zhejiang, China, where she ________ cooking with bamboo often.

The trip to ________ bamboo usually happens in late April. Each person in the group has their own bag to ________ as they get each bamboo shoot out of the ground. However, no one picks more bamboo than Grandma. The entire ________ of picking the bamboo and making the buns reminds Hennacy of how ________ her grandma is — and it ________ her own work ethic. “She turned 80 this year and still hikes up a hill,” Hennacy said.

To make buns, the bamboo has to be cut into small pieces and ________ with other fillings. Hennacy learned how to make the buns by ________ her grandma, but she had to work to measure everything and write it down because her grandmother cooks from ________.

Hennacy said she and her family are ________ to have Grandma living with them. She ________ everyone’s favorite foods and routinely ________ healthy meals. “That’s how ________ a person she is.”

Hennacy said. “She shows her love through cooking.”

At the age of fifteen, I was expert at tying my father’s shoelaces (鞋带). I bent over and _________ the tried-and-true bunny-ear method. When I _________, his lips twitched (抽搐) in disappointment before falling into a hard line. He opened his mouth once again, trying to say something. _________, they refused to come. Eventually, he turned to _________: little pats on his _________ followed by a wave in my direction. I _________ a smile, and whispered “I love you, too, Dad,” trying to hide the cry caught in my throat.

Before this, my father had been a sales trainer. “Life is good,” he would say. _________, everything changed when a disease left my dad with a loss of _________. It does not affect brainpower, so my father was like being _________ in his own body, unable to say what he wanted. I despaired and felt overcome by fear and uncertainty—was life really worth living?

I finally found my __________. On a weekend trip, my dad saw a group of people parasailing (滑帆伞) on the lake. “You and me!” he __________ to say. We floated high above the water, eyes fixed on the setting sun. Just after the sky __________ its last flash of pink, my dad looked at me with a __________ expression. “Life… good.” In that __________ moment, I understood exactly what he meant. “Yes,” I whispered back. “It really is.” How beautiful it is to know that we need __________ to see the stars!

Last Friday was very cold. When I watched   the ________falling onto my car, I really began to wonder if I was going to ________ it on time. Of course I must, because I have no ________.

About three weeks ago, what my ________ Ellen had talked about was her Christmas concert to be held in her school and some rumors about it. “Mom, Rachel was ________ to sing alone, but she’s not! Linda will replace her to do it.” “Mom, you won’t believe it, ________Lexie’s whole family is coming to the concert, even from another ________!” Making a long way out of state to see third graders sing Christmas carol seemed to be a pretty big deal(待遇) for her.

When I sat in traffic, I thought about all the school ________ I had attended alone. Ellen never mentioned it, but I wonder ________ she felt about me being the only one who ever came to her events. My own family lived out of town, and her father and his family ________ quite succeeded in filling those things into their schedules. I ________ if it bothered her.

At eight o’clock the ________ was scheduled to begin. With only a few minute to ________, I found myself running: first, though the snow-drifted parking lot, then through the school passage. I entered the ________ hall and found a vacant seat near the front. From her place on stage, Ellen saw me ________ for the chair, and she smiled. I was ________ enough to hear the loud conversation of the children on stage.

“Look, Ellen, there is my uncle mad my cousin. They came all the way from West Virginia. I can’t believe my whole family is her!” Ellen ________ at Lexie and said, “My whole family is here, too! Look, there she is!” Ellen gave me a big smile. I smiled back at her, never once ________ the melting snow dripping off my head. It ________occurred to me that while we tried to teach our children all about ________, they actually taught us what life was all about.