The whole school was talking about the coming trip at a winter camp. And everyone was _______，except me.

“I will be bored with it. I’ll hate it,” I told my parents. “I’ll get homesick (想家的). I’ll look stupid at winter sports, and everyone will _______ me.”

“You might be amazed, Bree,” said Mom. “The only way to find out is to _______.”

“It’s what growing up is all about,” Dad added.

When _______ the camp, we were asked to share one _______.

“I’m afraid I’ll be homesick,” someone said.

I wasn’t the only one? I began to _______. After lunch, we were asked to ski (滑雪) down to the field. I skied _______, but I still hit a piece of ice and _______.

“Ha! Ha!” Behind me, somebody started laughing. I _______ to see who was making fun of me. To my __________, I saw a girl in the same embarrassing position I was in. “I thought I’d be bad at this, __________ I’m worse than I expected!” she said.

__________, I started laughing too. After being so __________ of falling, it was a comfort not to fear it anymore.

At dinnertime, I was so happy to be talking about interesting things that I __________ to feel homesick.

The next day, I was __________ to try ski jumping first, even though I didn’t want to. But when my feet left the ground, I felt I was __________ and it was brilliant.

Maybe Dad was right when he said “You might __________ it if you give it a chance!”

Maybe the kind of __________ Mom and Dad were talking about had more to do with my attitude than my looks. We all __________ fitting in and failing when we try __________ things. Sometimes you’ve got to fall on your face to discover how much you’ve got in common.

“Don’t worry. Those are just age spots (老年斑),” the doctor said. “Are you _________ that these are age spots?” I questioned, pointing to the dark spots on my hands. Angie, the doctor, smiled warmly and _________, “I’m 100% sure.”

I let out a scream of _________. “You’ve no idea how long I’ve waited for these to _________” I said. Angie looked slightly _________, and I realized there was no possible way I could explain my excitement. What Angie didn’t know was that I shouldn’t have _________ to see age spots! At age forty, there was not much hope that I would live long enough to see any signs of _________. I was in the battle of my life—fighting lung cancer.

After the five-year mark of being cancer free, I started to have hope. When I got my first white hair, I quickly pointed to my husband, “look, honey, a white hair.”

_________ I was taking a trip down the memory path, Angie _________ , “Here’s the fade cream (增白霜) that you can __________ to your hands twice a week before going to bed”. And then she mentioned another __________ , “of course, you can always have the spots removed with lasers (激光).”

“Remove them?” I questioned. “ __________ would anyone want to do that?” Angie stared at me, not understanding the meaning of those words, while I explained, “I’d like to __________ them.” As I walked out of the hospital, I was __________ that I had such wonderful age spots!

Later that year, I celebrated two milestone (里程碑)—my sixteenth birthday and twenty years of being ________ from cancer. I’m excited to be growing older with white hairs, wrinkles (皱纹) and now age spots. And I can see the beauty in all of them!

Drew Bason thought he would be a medical technician. His mom was in medicine, and he always thought he would _________ in her footsteps. But life had a   _________ plan for him.

“I always wanted to cook.” he admitted. “I had eleven uncles and they were always _________ with my father. I was around it a lot.” So, he decided not to pursue healthCare. _________, Drew signed in a community college culinary (烹饪的) program and got a _________ as a chef.

But not long after, the pandemic (疫情) began, and Drew _________ his job. Without a steady income, taking care of his 10-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son was a (n) _________. But one day, walking through the Brightmoor neighborhood in Detroit, he _________ the City Covenant Church, and soon found out about their meal program. “I’d know I could come here to get a _________,” he said. “It took some of the __________ off.”

But Drew did not want to just __________ food home. He knew he could use his skills to help out. So, he started __________ at the church to cook meals. “It takes a lot of __________ to eat the food of someone that you don’t know,” he said. “So it’s an honor to give some of it back and help our community. I really __________ the opportunity.”

Now, Drew is working at a nearby restaurant, but he still volunteers at the church. And even though he cooks at work and as a volunteer, he still can’t get enough. “Food is __________ and I love cooking,” he said.