“Whoa! What are you doing? ” I asked. I had just walked into my daughter’s room as she was _____ a science project. Normally, I would have been pleased at such a(n) ______ But this time, her project involved much sand. ____ she’d put some plastic under her work area, it wasn’t nearly enough. The sand was ____ all over our newly renovated(整修的) floor.

My daughter immediately felt my displeasure and began to ____ herself. “I used plastic!” she responded angrily. I responded more   ___, “But the sand is getting all over!”

“Where else am I supposed to do it?” she ____.

Why won’t she admit when she has done something ____? I felt my ____, thinking of the future: what would her life look like if she couldn’t admit her mistakes?

My fear translated into more anger, this time about how ______ it was for her to admit mistakes. We had a   ______. She said something that I felt disrespectful to me and I ______ my voice. Both of us ended up ______ terrible. I wished this _____ happened before.

So I thought that I needed a good ______ to respond to my daughter. For this, I went to my wife, Eleanor, who was truly a master. I asked her how I should have ______ it.

“Sweetie,” she said, role-playing me in the _____ with my daughter, “There’s a lot of sand here and we need to ______ it up before it destroys the floor, how can I help?

That’s really a great way to deal with it: first ______the problem, next state what needs to happen and then offer to ______. It’s simple, right? However, it’s really helpful in solving some problems in life.

We were sitting in the doctor’s waiting room when my father said something that ______ me. “Are you my daughter or my sister? ” My heart broke as I stared at him.

The doctor told us my father had Alzheimers (阿尔茨海默病). It was a big _______ for me. I was facing a battle on two fronts, emotional and physical, and I was ______ for it. The disease didn’t snatch him away suddenly. Instead, it slowly ______ him. It made me sad to watch my father hide his ______ to read the clock.

As the disease continued to progress, his behaviors became ______ . We had to face another painful fact — we could no longer provide my father with the level of ______ to keep him safe at home. He ______ to move to a skilled nursing home.

Babies are born helpless; parents keep on _____ . Children grow up and learn that relationships are reciprocal (相互的). However, the parent-child relationship isn’t ______ . The parents remain the giver, and the children remain the taker. That is the natural order of the world — ______ the child becomes the parents caregiver.

When a(n) ______ appears, we can do something to change the fact. _______ , my father is alive and taken good care of in the nursing home. If he can _______ the illness, then I can make it. I will give him everything he deserves to have as a great father. And we will be awarded(奖励) a(n) ______ future by doing our best.

When I was growing up, I didn’t remember hearing the words “I love you” from my father. When your father _______ says these words to you when you are a (n)_______, it gets tougher and tougher for him to say these words as he gets _______. To tell the truth, I could not honestly remember _______ I had last said those words to him either. I decided to _______ my ego (自尊心) aside and make the first move. After _______, in our next phone conversation I blurted out (突然说出) the words, “Dad... I love you!”

There was a _______ at the other end and he awkwardly (笨拙地) replied, “Well, same back to you!”

I smiled and said, “Dad, I know you _______ me, and when you are ready, I know you _______ say what you want, to say.”

Fifteen minutes later my ________ called and nervously asked, “Paul,________ is okay?” I explained to her perfectly.

A weeks later, Dad ________ our phone conversation with the words, “Paul, I love you.” I was at work during this ________ and the tears were rolling down my cheeks as I finally “________” the love. As I sat there in tears, I ________ that this special moment had taken our father-son ________ to a new level.

A short while after this ________ moment, my father narrowly ________ death following heart operation. I have often thought ________ I did not take the first step and Dad did not ________ the operation, I would have never “heard” the love.