I had driven home to celebrate my 38th birthday with my mother. When I arrived, I found her sitting proudly at the kitchen table, a chocolate cake and two boxes wrapped in orange ribbon (丝带) in front of her. “Happy birthday!” she said, _________ at the boxes. “Open them.”

As she knows me _______ than anyone, she’d gotten me exactly what I wanted — running clothes. I hugged her and thanked her and proceeded (接着) to eat the cake.

“Too many _______,” I said, not really caring.

“You’ll run them off tomorrow,” Mom said.

Many adult children with a parent suffering from _________ memory will tell you there was one day that _______ to them that their relationship with their mother or father would be forever changed.

For me that day _______ two weeks later, when I drove back for another short _______. I came upon exactly the same _______: my mom sitting at the kitchen table; a chocolate cake resting next to two boxes wrapped in curly ribbon. The ribbon was green this time. That was the only _______. “Happy birthday!” my mom said.

I was totally confused. “What’s going on?” I asked. She smiled, “Can’t I celebrate my daughter’s birthday?”

This was no ________. This was real life, and since my mother clearly only wanted to make me ________, I pushed aside my fear and played my role as the ________ daughter. I hugged her, thanked her and ________ the clothes… I did not mention to her that we’d done all this two weeks ago.

My house is her world now. My mother and I have the ________ conversation roughly 10 times a day. ________, I consider it a pleasure, because every minute is new for her.