We moved there on my third birthday.My first______ is our neighbor Arlene handing me strawberries from her garden through a hole in the chain-link fence.She and her husband, Bill, lived next door.

One day, my parents asked Bill and Arlene whether they'd watch me _____ they were out on a date.This____well for everyone, so it became a somewhat monthly occurrence.Arlene and Bill didn't have kids.They had a____ room in their house, which became“my”room.I had a cabinet and boxes of toys and books in that room, Arlene and I would do crafts together.Bill taught me how to __ the lawn tractor and eventually a car (stick and automatic).

When I was about five, I had an idea.My parents were watching TV when I spit it out:“What if l adopt Bill and Arlene as my____ ?” My parents said I could go over and ask them.I __ on Bill and Arlene's door, sat down in their living room, and said, “Will you guys be my grandparents?" They started crying and _ ____ accepted.Soon after, they printed out an adoption______ ,and it hung on their living room wall from then on.

I remember being surprised that they took my____ so seriously 一not because I wasn't serious but because I was just a kid.They could have____ it off.Thinking of that moment still brings tears to my eyes.There is something truly magnificent about a child offering up her love and _____ being so excited to accept it.Every child in this world____ enthusiastically responded love.

Arlene passed away in 2013, two days before our adoption anniversary.Bill gave her eulogy(悼词).At the end, he said, “Arlene______her husband, Bill.And the greatest joy of her life, her granddaughter, Katie.""

After the funeral, Bill gave me the ring he'd gifted to Arlene on their 25th wedding anniversary.It's a simple gold band that I wear on my ring finger as a____ of the kind of love I wish to put into this world.