I almost can’t believe my eyes. Here in Majorca, Spain, my husband and three kids are playing in the Mediterranean, splashing and diving and floating in the picture-perfect sea! How did the five of us _______ here, many kilometers from our home in Victoria?

For as long as I can remember, my husband and I _______ taking our kids on a trip around the world. It was something we _______ wanted to do one day after our kids came into the world. The dream was _______. We would pack a few things, get on a flight across the Atlantic and just _______ the sun and our interest. Putting the plan into _______, however, was a little more complicated.

In the blink（眨眼）of the eye and 14 years later, we have three delightful boys who are growing up fast. It was time to _______ those plans. We spent dozens of hours discussing, researching, planning, and booking flights and cars and places to stay. We planned a _______ around Europe and South Africa, to Australia, around Asia and then, for the last few months, to South America. We had to arrange time off from work. We _______ how many children’s necessities we need, went to the ________ to have the boys' teeth checked, renewed our passports, and then ________ our luggage. By July, we were as ________ as we could be.

Of course, dreams never turn out ________ as planned. Our first week, after being a little too ________ in our camper vehicle in Iceland, we miscalculated and ________ our flights to Ireland by a day. We didn't want to pay too much to rebook our ________, so we got on another plane to Paris, and had a(n) ________ weekend there, right ________ for the World Cup. It was almost as if we had ________ it that way.

After having been traveling for two months, we are learning as we go, and we seem to be finding our travel ________ as we journey together.

My father was a farmer. He worked very hard and never complained. He has never gone to school. So, he was a common man ________ little education. But he would teach my sister and ________ lessons through stories.

One day before I was leaving for college, he sat down and took a ________ from his pocket. And he said, “You need to know ________ things before you go out into the world. Remember them, ________ you will be the best person you can be.”

“First, look at the pencil. We know that in order to become a(n) ________ pencil, from time to time, it has to go through being sharpened (使锋利). If this pencil could ________, we could imagine how painful that would be. But that’s ________ it becomes a useful pencil. Life is much the same. No one can live the whole life ________ all the time. Painful experiences and difficulties come to us all. But we build our personalities and we ________ through these chances. Second is to keep in mind that you will be able to make many of your mistakes correct just like this eraser. If we ________ from our mistakes, they’re not mistakes. We can use the lessons to do ________ next time. Third, just like this pencil, every place where you are used, you leave your mark. You’re ________ your own story. Don’t be afraid and never stop writing. And fourth, always remember the most ________ part of you is what’s inside. A pencil is useless without it’s inner part.”

When I feel sad in my life, I’ll think about my ________ words. They give me courage to move on.

After my parents had passed away, I took over their old house. At first, I would go there ________ to ensure everything was okay. But years passed and my ________ grew infrequent. One day, my wife declared the house a hidden ________ for kids in the neighborhood and was considering tearing it down. I thought it ________ to check it out first, so that nothing ________ would be left behind.

Time had ________ the house. The door was so out of ________ that it couldn’t be ________, so I entered through an open window. There lay the ________ of my parents’ lives: some old clothes, cards from old friends, etc. ________ started to emerge in my head.

As I entered their ________, a letter on the bedside table drew my eyes, yellowed with age. I picked it up ________ and started reading. It was ________ by my dad when he served during wartime. From the ________ handwriting I’d read many times, I learned how much he ________ the house and his family. There he was, a homesick young man ________ on the sea. At the bottom of the page, Dad passed on another ________. Tears burned my eyes as I read those words: “All is well here. Don’t worry.”

________ hit me at not taking good care of a place that my parents once ________. At that moment, I decided to ________ the house and care for it the way it deserves.