In the corner of my desk is a note, slowly yellowing from time. It is a card from my mother, containing only four sentences, but with enough impact to _________ my life forever.

In the card, she praises my abilities as a writer. The word “but” never appears; _________, the word “and” is there almost a half dozen times.

Every time I read it, I am _________ to ask myself how many times I’ve “but-ted” my own daughters. Although our eldest daughter usually got all A’s on her report card, teachers would always suggest that she talked too much in class. I would come home and _________ her with, “Congratulations! Your Dad and I are very _________ of your accomplishment, but could you try to _________ in class?”

The same was _________ of our younger daughter. She treats the floor of her room as a closet, which has often caused me to say, “Yes, that project is great, but _________ your room!”

I’ve noticed that other _________ do the same thing. “Our whole family was together for Christmas, but Kyle skipped out early to play his new computer game.” “The hockey team won, but Mike should have made that last __________.”

But, but, but.

Instead, what I have learned from my mother is to start thinking “and, and, and”. __________, “The hockey team won, and Mike did his best the whole game.”

Now, I am firmly __________ that “but” feels bad, “and” feels good. This is not to say that children don’t need or won’t respond to their parents’ __________. They do and they will. When those expectations are consistently __________, amazing things happen.

“No more buts!” is a call for __________. And if I ever forget, I have my mother’s note to remind me.

My job is to help clients find jobs and return to school for training. One day, a lady came to my office with a dream to become a registered nurse. However, her family did not _________. With young children to care for and her husband unemployed, she simply didn’t have the _________ to return to school.

It was clear that this lady had a(n) _________ for the nursing profession, so I encouraged her to realize her dream. I _________ her with necessary information to apply for nursing school. She left my office, and I never _______ whether she followed her dream or not.

Many years later, I was diagnosed(诊断) with breast cancer. I was _________ to hospital. The surgery was successful. It was, _________, very painful. Though I _________ myself on not being a bell ringer, one night the pain was so _________ that I had to call for a nurse. I rang the bell and waited for __________. A nurse came through the door and offered to help. I __________ thanked her for coming to my rescue. I said, “I am not usually like this.”

To my __________, she said, “Oh, I know that, Mrs. Bryenton.” It __________ that she was just the lady who I had encouraged to follow her dream years before. She subsequently(随后)returned to school for upgrading and later ________ nursing.

You never know what __________ your encouraging words will have on someone. It is amazing that many of my clients would __________ to say thanks to me. To this day, I am still ______________ by strangers in the street and reminded that I was instrumental(起重要作用) in __________ their life.

I truly believe we make a __________ by what we get, but we make a wonderful life by what we __________.

When our first grandchild, Noah, was born, we didn’t know what to expect. We thought he would be ________ and develop like others.________ , that was not the case.

Noah had a lot of health ________ from the very beginning, one of which was failure to ________ naturally.

We take a lot for granted(想当然)when we have children, and one is their eating. ________ 一 Noah wasn’t able to suck(吸)like most ________ . While in the hospital, a feeding ________ had to be put in. Though this was needed, it ________ our hearts to see what all Noah went through.

One day I was in the grocery store. A young mother was walking by with her ________ baby. The baby started to cry out loud. Then, in a bored voice, the mother looked at me and ________ that now she had to ________ the two-month-old baby again. I knew she was taking feeding her baby as an inconvenience but not something to be thankful for.

I understood the mother, but I ________ with her what Noah was going through. I said, “You have no idea how ________ my daughter would be to feed Noah like you’re able to. ”

Noah is unique and 13 years old now. He has come a long way. I’m thankful he can do things today that I didn’t know he would ever be ________ enough to do.

Today, let’s take some time to ________ things we often take for granted and be thankful.