Last winter vacation, I had a wonderful 12-day trip to Los Angeles. During my stay, I experienced the _________ of my host family.

On my way to Los Angeles, I kept _________ my host family: a _________ house with a garden and family members with blue eyes. _________ my arrival, I met them—an Asian woman named Theresa and her daughter, Mikayla. To be honest, I was a bit _________ in the beginning. _________, they were very delighted to see me arrive. After a short introduction, they drove me home.

My _________ to see a big American house was not met. 20 minutes after we arrived, I _________ that there wasn’t even a garage. Theresa _________ my dissatisfaction and insisted that I have a __________, so I did. The moment my head hit the pillow, my __________ feelings were gone, but homesickness set in. __________, the warm room and the pink quilt gave me some comfort.

Staying with the family for several __________ found they were probably the nicest host family in the world. Theresa treated me like her own __________. Every day, she __________ me up from school and __________ forgot to carry my coat. She usually took me around the town to __________ its beauty. Sometimes, she even prepared delicious Chinese __________ for me.

The warmth the family showed me was the best and most incredible __________ on my first trip to the US. I can still __________ Theresa’s tears when we had to say goodbye. One day, I hope I have the chance to host a nice family in China.

For ten years my father had been fighting cancer. Now he was forced into the hospital because of an infection. I sensed he_________being there, but he hardly complained. That wasn't his_________

One night after_________ to call a nurse, he tried to reach the bathroom on his own and fell, getting his_________ injured. When I saw his wounded head the next day, I felt my helpless anger_________.Why isn't anything I can do? I thought. As if_________ my thoughts, when the lift I waited for opened, two dogs greeted me. I was_________ that hospital rules should allow it.

A(n) _________ grew as I walked to my car.I_________ that if I could give my dad nothing else, I was going to give him some__________ with his beloved dog Boots. When dad was at home, Boots was always there, watching him protectively. When dad had to go to the hospital, Boots waited and jumped every time a car__________ to the house. Later that day I came back for another__________, bringing Boots. Upon arrival, Boots flew out of the car and dragged me through the hospital lobby.__________, she knew to stop directly in front of the very lift.__________ she had never been here before, when the lift door opened, she ran directly into the room. Ever so gently, she crawled into my father's open arms, not touching his __________ sides and laid her face next to his. For the first time in a long time, I saw my father’s broad smile.

My mother-in-law left us an unexpected and priceless gift. After she died, my husband and his sister were _______ the contents of her house when they _______ every letter that we had written to her during our 46-year marriage. She also kept all the letters that my mother had written to her over the years.

During the pandemic, I’ve had time to read these letters. I read of our early married life, our _______ to have children and, especially, the _______ of our three children from birth to adulthood, I began writing all these details for my children, and now they have details about when they were small. I discovered much that I had _______.

To read the letters written by my mother to my husband’s mother is a _______. I wish that I had saved my mother’s letters to me but now I have these letters that tell me things about my mother that I never knew. I see that Mom and my mother-in-law shared their great love for us, their children, and for our children, their grandchildren.

I come from a long line of letter writers and was trained to stay in touch with our parents. My grandparents loved to receive letters from across the _______. When I was _______ for a student exchange program abroad in 1970, my mother told me that my grandfather kept my airmail letters in his shirt pocket and read them _______. Knowing this, I have tried my best to write to our two families ________.

To all of you who write to me, I thank you. The handwritten word is a ________ tool of friendship; it ________ us together.

Perhaps the greatest gift that these letters have given to me is to see how my husband’s parents ________ our letters to them. The letters helped them know their grandchildren and feel like part of our lives. I shall file (存档) them for our children so that they can read the ________ of our lives and know that they, too, were cherished.

________ writing to those you love. Those letters are our greatest gifts to each other.