There was a time when I thought my dad didn’t know a thing about being a good father. I couldn’t _________ him ever saying the words “I _________ you.” It seems to me his only purpose in life was to say “No” to anywhere I wanted to go and anything I wanted to do, including getting a car. Some parents bought their kids cars when they got their driver’s licenses. Not my dad—he said that I’d have to get a job and buy my own.

So that is what I did. I got a job at a very nice restaurant and _________ every penny I could and when I had enough to buy my car, I did! The day I brought that car home, my dad was the first one I wanted to show it off to. “Look, dad, a car of my own. If you ever want a ride, I’ll only _________ you five dollars.” I offered with a smile. “I see,” was all he said.

One day, there was something wrong with my father’s truck. So he needed a _________ to work. The sun wasn’t even up when we left the house, _________ it was already getting warm out. It was going to be a (n) _________ day. As I dropped my dad off, I watched him, dressed in his work clothes, getting his _________ from the truck(车尾箱)of my car. Watching his sun weathered face, and even from a distance I could tell there were _________ lines than I ever remembered being there before. I realized how hard my dad works for the family. My father is a cement finisher(水泥修整工).

In that instant, it __________ to me that he actually __________ on his hands and knees to sweat over hot concrete(混凝土)to make a living for his family. And he did this day in and day out, however hot it got. Never, not once, had I heard him __________ about it. To him we were “worth” it. And never once did he “charge” us for it.

When he closed the trunk, his tools set off to the side, he walked over to my window to __________ me five dollars. I rolled down the window and said “Good-bye, dad. Keep your five dollars. It’s my __________. Don’t work too hard. I love you.”

His __________ met mine, then glanced away in the direction of his waiting tools, he cleared his throat and said, “Oh, and... me, too.”

My wife and I separated in December. As you might expect, I had a very______December.

My therapist(心理治疗师) gave me______totally unexpected. It was a small handmade Play-Doh heart. She______that it was not for me to keep, but only on______until I got my own heart. Then I______return it to her.

After the session, I placed the heart carefully on the dash of my car and drove to______my daughter Juli-Ann, for this was the first night that she would be staying at my new home. As she got into the car, she was immediately______to the heart, picking it up,______it and asking me what it was.

“It’s a present from my therapist to help me through this difficult time______it is not for me to keep, but only to have till I get my own heart,” I______. Juli-Ann made no______. I wondered, at 11 years old, could she understand?

Several______later, when my daughter was again at my home, she handed me her Valentine’s Day present for me: a small red box,______with a gold band. I______into the pretty little box. To my surprise, I pulled out a similar Play-Doh heart that she had made for me. I looked at her,______, wondering what it meant.

Afterwards she slowly handed me a card. It was a(n)______. Juli-Ann had written me the most______and loving words I had ever read. Tears flooded my eyes and my heart______open:

For My Dad/Here is a heart/for you to keep/for the big leap/you’re trying to take/Have fun on your journey/It might be blurry/But when you get there/Learn to care

____all my material wealth, I______this as my most sacred treasure.

One 18-month-old welcomes her big brothers home from school in the most beautiful way possible.

Having spent most of her ________ in the COVID-19 pandemic, Emelia “Emmy” Muddamalle has grown used to always having her three ________ brothers- Liam, 10; Levi, 8; and Lucas, 6—around.

With the school year in Charlotte, North Carolina, now in full ________ her brothers are back in school for in-person learning, ________ Emmy at home with their parents.

“She never ________ her brothers gone,” said Emmy’s mother, Brittany Muddamalle.

“This is the ________ time. She’ll wake up from her nap (小睡) like, Where in the world are my brothers?’ and ________ them all day.”

In a video recently posted online, Brittany ________ her kids’ lovely reunion (团聚) one day after school. The video has since gone viral (走红), and has had over 4 million ________ and 75,000 comments.

The video shows Liam, Levi and Lucas on one side of a road and Emmy on the other as both run to ________ in the middle while ________ each other’s names. At the end, the boys ________ their schoolbags and give Emmy a group hug (拥抱).

“It’s such a ________ family moment,” Brittany said. “They just dote on (宠爱) her. They just do everything with her all day long, so when they were ________, she was like “What am I supposed to do?”

“One of the things in Indian culture is that________ is everything,” Brittany explained. “I’ve worked really hard at teaching our kids that kind of love.