After getting married nine years ago, I moved to an absolutely new town. ______ as I was, with various new things to explore, I was still lonely. I was desperate to establish ______.

This could explain my enthusiastic “Count me in!” when ______ to participate in a half marathon. Considering my usual 3 miles, I must have been ______—13 miles seemed a(n)______task.

However, the initial ______ gradually wore off. I found comfort in burying myself in training. Though taking it slow, one mile, and then two, I gradually made ______. Mile after mile, I managed to step beside my new friends. We talked about our favorite music and ______ funny stories about our children. At about mile 10, the conversations ______. We shared our past and hopes for our future, our fears and regrets. By the time we were running 12-mile legs, I was ______ that I’d made lifelong friends.

______   the day of the race arrived. At the start line, armed with my friends, I already felt like a champion. My time training had ______, I managed to hold a steady pace and kept up with my ______. Finally, we crossed the finish line together.

Although it started as a ______ of building social ties, running not only provided me with friendships, but with a skill that would ______ me the rest of my life.

John and Stella settled down in Seal Beach, California in 1979. They’ve been ________ the local people to affordable and delicious donuts(甜甜圈) in their donut shop, and the people ________ them.

Last month some of their regular customers noticed something ________. John was still boxing and bagging donuts behind the counter, but Stella was ________. Later they knew that she had suffered a rare disease, leaving her unable to ________ or move. Now she was still in a(n)________ center, and John went to be with her every day after ________. So their neighborhood decided to help them ________ more time together.

It all started when local Dawn Caviola learned about Stella’s ________. She got the idea to ________ her neighbors to help John finish work at the shop sooner, so he could be with his wife. Then she posted her ________ on neighborhood networking site Nextdoor, and the response has been ________. John’s donuts have been selling out around three hours ________ than usual, and he sometimes gets to close as early as 9: 00 am, allowing him to stay with Stella ________.

“They’re such sweet people, working extremely hard to keep their ________ open to support their family,” local Marc Loopesko said. “We will always support them, even more so in their time of ________.”

It was ________ heartwarming that one customer even offered to set up a crowdfunding page to ________ money for Stella’s recovery, but John refused. “We are so ________,” John said. “She is a lot better and can speak now. All I need is time to ________ her.”

One day, I went to a grocery with my 4-year-old daughter. On our arrival, she was _________by the pink toilet papers on the shelf. She had never seen such beautiful toilet paper before and _________ me to buy some, with her sweetest pleases. Of course, I _________ her request and tried to explain to her that these pink toilet papers were produced _________ for the charity month and part of the _________ would be donated to help the needy people. I added that pink _________ kindness and that when we were paying for the pink products we were also helping the _________.

On the way to the _________ , my little girl sat in the cart (购物车), holding a package of pink toilel paper. She could not hold back her _________ and talked on and on about how happy the rest of our family would be when she shared her ______________ with them. When we were waiting in the line, she retold to the cashier (收银员) everything she could remember about the ______________ of the colored toilet paper. Her enthusiasm spread among the other ______________, and several more packages ______________ the checkouts within minutes.

When we were at home, my daughter ______________ the toilet paper upstairs. It was a really great ______________ for her, since the package was as tall as her. That evening, when I walked into the ______________ to give her a shower, I found all the rolls ______________ stored in the cupboard. They were carefully mixed with the white toilet papers in the shape of a ______________ heart.

“______________ I use it, I will remember to pray for all those people who are ______________ right now," she told me proudly.