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.

I grew up as the “baby” of my family. I was the ________ of three sons. My brothers were five and seven years older than me. They ________ with most of the chores (杂务) around the house, while I spent most of my time riding my bike, ________ basketball in the yard, and etc. To say I was a bit ________ wouldn’t be unreasonable. I spent my childhood with all the fun and none of the ________.

By the time I entered my early teens, however, my ________ had moved out of our home. My dad was badly ________ and became disabled. We had ________ a mountain top house heated by a wood stove (火炉) with only well water to drink. I soon ________ myself then doing more ________ than I had ever done before. I ________ our garden and mowed our lawn (割草) in the summer. In the fall I carried wood to keep us ________ in the winter months to come. And all year round I carried ________ containers of water from a mountain spring back to our house.

At first I grumbled and ________ to myself. After a while, though, I began to find ________ in helping my parents that I ________ so much. I sang to myself when I cut wood and ________ while I carried water. I ________ found myself helping my mom with the dinner dishes and cleaning. I started to ________ something that I would carry with me the rest of my life too: When your work is done in ________, it isn’t work.

At an airport I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together. They had announced her plane’s ________ and standing near the door, he said to his daughter, “I love you, I wish you ________.”

She said, “Daddy, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever ________. I wish you enough, too, Daddy.” They kissed good-bye and she left.

He walked over toward the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to ________. I tried not to disturb his ________, but out of my expectation he

________ me in by asking, “Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?” “Yes, I have.” I replied. “But why is this a ________ good-bye?” I asked.

“I am old and she lives much too far away. I have ________ ahead and the reality is, her next trip back will be for my ________.” he said.

“When you were saying good-bye I ________ you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?”

He began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been ________ other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.”

“When we said ‘I wish you enough.’, we were ________ the other person to have a life filled with enough ________ things to keep them.”. He continued and ________ the following as if he were reciting it from ________.

“I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to ________ the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough ________ so that the smallest joys in life appear much ________. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you ________. I wish enough ‘Hello’s’ to get you through the final ‘Good-bye’.”

He then began to ________ and walked away.