Remembering My Father’s Vest

People get into trouble because they don’t know enough to keep cool. As a child, I had a lot of __ that had been held back and not released. Worse still, I was not good at __ constructively.

Once as I was getting ready for school, my mother   __   me my father’s vest instead of mine. This was around the time when I was going to be larger in __   than my father, so as I put on the vest, I felt like I was being choked in it! I __ that it was a small oversight( 疏忽 ) on my mother’s part, but   __ the feeling of being choked drowned me and I got very angry. I took my anger out on my mother __   thinking much. I was so upset when she had handed me the wrong vest, and I   __   by violently tearing it apart from my chest!             

Later, my mother shared her own   __   with my father: “ See what your son has done.” Instead of scolding or abusing me, my father __   responded by asking my mother to   __   the vest. He then wore it to work the next day.

When my mother told me about my father’s response much later, when I had   __   from my fit, I immediately felt a great sense of   __   for my violent behavior, just   __   that he was spending the entire day wearing a(n) __   vest. At the same time, I was filled with great __ for my father, whose gentle kindness taught me a life lesson I would treasure forever.

On that day, I made a   __   never to let anger get the better of me. I learn to   __     others when I think that they behave in an unfair, cruel, or unacceptable way,   __   forgiveness is a tool to turn anger off. And whenever I have difficulty __   my strong emotion, I try to remember my father’s vest.

My father was an ill-humored man. I knew he loved me and his love was ________. He just didn't know how to express it.

One evening we went out for a night on the town. We were sitting in a famous restaurant that had a small but lively ________. When there came a familiar waltz tune (曲调) I decided to invite him for a dance. “Dad, you know I've never danced with you. I begged you but you ________ wanted to. How about right now?”

I waited for the usual ________. But instead he considered thoughtfully and then a surprising twinkle appeared in his eyes. “Let's hit the floor and I'll show you just what kind of moves an ________ guy like me can still make. ”

My father took me in his arms and I felt overcome by ________. As we danced I ________ my father but he avoided my gaze (注视). “Dad,” I finally whispered, tears in my eyes, “why is it so hard for you to look at me?” At last his ________ dropped to my face and he studied me. “Because I love you so much, ” he said. I was struck dumb (愣住) by his response. It wasn't what I had ________. But it was of course exactly what I needed to hear. His own eyes were teary and he was blinking.

I had always known that he loved me. I just hadn't understood that his deep emotion had ________ him and made him mute (沉默的). “I love you too, Dad!” I said softly. He stumbled over the next few words, “I'm sorry that I'm not good at showing feelings. It's ________ for me, but just remember how much I love you. ”

When the dance ended I excused myself to the ladies' room and during my absence ________ changed. Dad fell down heavily in his chair. Everything was really all too ________. He was gone.

Now I still remember our waltz on the dance floor and his sudden confession (坦白) to me. It was ________ the first, last and only dance that I ever had with my father. What a blessing that we had the chance to say ________ it was too late.

Our church has a way of assisting those who have financial difficulties without making the receiver feel shame or guilt by dropping money into an offering box with only the name of the receiver on the envelope. The envelopes are then distributed to those members without them knowing the ________ of the giver.

There came a time when my husband and I were among those ________. We did not talk about our financial difficulty with anyone. The only reason our ________ knew was because we had to cut back on many things. ________, we hoped they were not aware of the extent of our need. We did not want to ________ them with a problem they were too young to do anything to solve.

Our situation wasn’t improving, and just as we reached the point of ________, our church gave us a gift envelope left in the offering box. We were ________ to receive a big sum of money, enough to help us ________ that desperate time. We couldn’t help but wonder who had given such a generous gift.

A year later, our seventeen-year-old son was applying for a student loan (贷款) so he could ________ university. It was then that we discovered that his savings account was almost ________.

His father and I were very confused by this. From the time he was nine years old, he had worked very hard for his small ________. I asked him repeatedly to tell me where the money had gone. At first, he would not tell me, but I would not let the matter ________.

Finally, in tears, and with much ________, my son admitted that the year before he had put his savings in the offering box for his father and me. I stood there ________, tears filling my eyes. It had taken my son years to save that money. He had given it to us ________ — without telling us what he had done.