My father was a music teacher who traveled to farm homes or homes in smaller communities to teach his students. He was never at home in the ___ because he left around 1:00 each afternoon to start ___ and would return around 11:00 p. m. long after everyone, except my mother, was ___. Mom, on the other hand, was the ruler of the home ___ everything went well. She had to ___ my brother and me, cook meals, and wash clothes. Mother was a strict taskmaster ___ that we all obey the rules without any ___. When we didn’t, there were always ___ punishments(惩罚).

One day I got myself into trouble. ___ dealing with the situation, my mother told me that my father would come to punish me. I thought this was no ____ since I would be ____ long before my father got home. ____, he wouldn’t wake me up to punish me.

The next morning, I ____ thinking all was well. However, my father called me into the playroom. He told me to ____ beside him in a wooden chair and then said how ____ he was in me. I was told that I would not be ____ to play with any of my toys for two days.

I always remember that ____ even after all these years have gone by. The reason I remember it so well is that it taught me a lot. I came to ____ that you won’t ____ the punishment no matter how much you don’t want it, or how much you bury your ____ in the sand and think that it will just go away like a bad dream.

When I was a kid, my mum liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night ______ when she had made dinner after a long, hard day at ______.

On that evening so long ago, my mum ______ a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned toast in front of my dad. I remember ______ to see if anyone noticed! ______ all my dad did was reach for his toast, ______ at my mum and ask me how my day was at school… I don’t remember what I told him that night, but I do remember ______ him spread butter and jelly on that toast and eat every bite!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remembered hearing my mum ______ to my dad for burning the toast. And I’II never ______ what he said: ＂Honey, I love ______ toast.＂

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really ______ his toast burned. He ______ me in his arms and said, ＂Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she’s really ____. And besides, a burned toast never ______ anyone!＂

____ is full of imperfect things... and imperfect people. I’m not the best at anything, ______ I forget holidays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I’ve ______ over the years is that learning to accept each other’s ______ — and ______ to celebrate each other’s differences — is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and ______ relationship where a burned toast isn’t a deal-breaker!

I could never imagine myself being in any other profession than teaching.

As a child, I often ________ I was teaching a classroom with my toy animals. However, it wasn't a ________ when I received a phone call about teaching a summer tennis camp to 3- to 5-year-old campers.

The first day of tennis camp arrived. I started the ________ by introducing myself and teaching the kids how to hold their tennis rackets(球拍)．Boom! They all ________ it right away. The next minute they were all doing it the wrong way. “Is this what it's like to be a________?”I thought. Instead of getting ________ or giving up, I found myself feeling encouraged to be patient and ________ my students until they understood certain concepts about the game.

The rest of the week reassured(使安心)me of my ________ to teach students the game of tennis and this ________ led me to an “aha” moment. I realized how much I________ working with younger children. And this is exactly what encouraged me to ________ teaching.

I'm in my fourth year of teaching kindergarten, and I'm often asked about my ________ to be teacher. People would make negative remarks about my________ . “You know you're not going to make any money, right?” was something I heard often. To me, teaching isn't about the money. It is about making a(n)________ to the lives of children. I knew I would encounter many challenges, but I also knew the positive would always________ the challenges I might face.