It was Wednesday afternoon and Jennifer McCarthy had a lot of questions. Her college freshman son had just _______ home. The reason was that Vanderbilt University would move _______ online because of coronavirus (新冠病毒). His return is not just a fun homecoming. It’s _______ and confusing for everyone, _______ for her.

_______ thousands of parents of college students across the country, McCarthy isn’t sure what comes next. Does she make sure her son is out of _______ before 11:30 in the morning, his typical spring-break rising time? Does she adopt a study rule or class time, _______ online classes have started? College students don’t _______ to be told what to do, but there have to be some rules.

For many parents, this sudden return isn’t just _______ their young adult’s life; it’s changing theirs. The quiet __________ they had gotten used to is back to chaos. And for people like McCarthy, whose 83-year-old father lives with them, this __________ comes with new rules that will be hard for a college freshman to observe or even fully __________, such as no parties and no sports.

This isn’t the natural __________ of things. Babies are born and they grow into children who are taught how to be __________. They move out and on and it’s back to a quiet house. There is __________normal about this time we’re living in. We never know what __________ life will bring us, so parents are __________ their children home and hoping for the best. There will be __________ —rules to be broken, __________ milk boxes left in the fridge and anxious teenagers who wish they were somewhere else—as families learn to _________ together again. But if everyone stays healthy, this is all temporary.

My two adult sons still live with me. Both of them have Autism(自闭症)and other mental disabilities. My oldest boy works at a local sheltered workshop while his younger brother suffers a(n) ________ disorder in the brain and stays home with me full time.

The other day I was walking into a restaurant ________ his finger when I noticed a teenage girl staring at my youngest son. She quickly ________ perhaps because she didn’t want to ________ us. I wasn’t mad at her. Many people have done the same thing over the years. I only wished that they could see what I see when I look at my sons and ________ that they could see behind the ________ . I have been ________ to be able to care for them, to love them, and to ________ from them all these years. I am sure that both of them come to this world to help teach us all how to love more deeply and ________ .

I have been my sons’ ________ as well as teacher in this life. As their father, I did my best to teach them how to do things with their ________ intellectual abilities. And they successfully ________ how to laugh more freely, love more openly, and have joy more easily.

When you see the mentally ________ in this world, then don’t just look with your eyes. Look with your heart. See ________ their disguise to their soul. Let the light inside them ________ your own light as well. Let the love they share help you to share your own love too. They truly are God’s angels in disguise.

A True Champion

When our second child was born, Jim and I thought she was perfect, but the doctor pointed out that her feet were turned inward. “If they are not ________ it would be a problem, ”he told us.

When she was only two weeks old, I had to ________ her to the doctor every two weeks to have each foot cast. ________ the casting was finished and it was time for corrective shoes and bars. Jim and I watched with hope and concern as she ________ to walk. Those first, clumsy (笨拙的) steps made us so ________. By the time she entered preschool, her ________ appeared quite normal. Encouraged by her progress, we looked for something else to help ________ her lower body.

After many attempts, it turned out that she ________ the ice!

When she turned six, we enrolled her in skating lessons and soon she was ________ like a swan. She wasn’t the fastest nor the most ________ skater. She had to work hard at every new movement, but she loved the ice and her efforts ________. In France, at the 1992 Winter Olympics, our daughter, Kristi Yamaguchi, ________ the gold medal.

I thought back to the early years of ________ that Krist faced. During those years, we didn’t ________ gold medals and a professional career ahead of her. In our eyes, Krist had always walked with the grace of a true ________.