I used to be a very self-centered person, but in the past two years I have really changed. I have started to think about other people sinceI think about myself. I am happy that I am becoming a ________person.

I think my________started when I was at Palomar College. At first, I just wanted to get my________and be left alone. I thought I was smarter than everyone else, so I hardly ever________to anyone in my classes. By the end of my first semester, I was really________. It seemed as if everyone but me had made friends and was having fun. So tried a (n)________. I started asking people around me how they were doing, and if they were having trouble I________to help. That was really a big step for me. By the end of the year, I had several new friends, and two of them are still my best friends today.

A bigger cause of my new________, however, came when I took a part-time job at a Vista Nursing Home. One old lady there who had Alzheimer’s disease became my friend. Every time I came into her room, she was so happy because she thought I was her daughter. Her real daughter never________her, so I took her place. She let me ________that making others feel good make me feel good, too, when she died, I was________, but I was very grateful to her.

I think I am a much ________person today than I used to be, and I hope I will not________these experiences. They have________me to care about other people more than about myself. I________who I am today, and I could not say that a few years ago.

John Berry of Burlington, Kentucky, was just 15 years old when his mother died unexpectedly. He has lots of _________of her mother from his youth. _________,when she passed away, he didn't have many physical _________ to remember her by.

A few years after her death, John's father _________ her car to a collector in Michigan. As he grew up, John's_________was still on that green car and the freedom it represented. Over two _________,John reached out to the car's owner_________ to ask if he could buy it, but the man_________For about 20 to 22 years, John kept _________ with that gentleman. Finally, after years of __________the man wrote to John and said he was __________ to pass the car on. The gentleman said, “I am 81 years old, and get to thinking about your __________ for the car and the number of years that I'll be able to __________ it. I think it is time to let it __________.”

When receiving the car, John __________ the entire experience was like a trip down memory path. Not only was the car still in __________ condition with just 42,000 miles, but the glove box also contained a time capsule from his mother's __________: a pair of sunglasses and stamps that she had__________there.

Some things really are worth the wait! John finally realized his__________ and now his own children can take a ride in the very car their grandmother owned.__________really does pay off.

2005 was a big year for me. After my family moved to New Orleans in June, Hurricane Katrin a hit the _____ in August. I sat in my family’s car on a highway full of other confused children as we all _____ the city before the storm. A few months later, we returned to New Orleans. But the city was still ____. There were still thousands of people left homeless because of the ____.

Then some ____ people like the coach of New Orleans Saints were taking action. He gave money to schools and charities, helping _____ the city and feeding those who had ____ everything. He helped bring back the ____ that New Orleans once had. The people made it ____ and came back to the stadium to watch the game.

I remember when Louisiana Superdome reopened, the energy of the city ____. I remember when the coach ____ the field, there were loud cheers.   I remember how ____ I was when the Saints appeared.

I was too young to understand what the _____ had brought to New Orleans. _____, I’m old enough now to understand that the coach did so much for New Orleans. I’ll always be ____ for that. Even though he had retired, he would always be my idol.