Lara Harrison has always had a complicated relationship with her father. Several times, Harrison felt she’d reached her breaking point and ________ her dad for months. Still, she couldn’t ________ him. Small actions showed he cared though he remained difficult to get close to: he went out of his way to ________ with tasks such as repairing her office. Harrison wanted the relationship to improve.

As her father reached his 70s, she realized that if they were going to re-establish ________, they could not waste time. She made a conscious decision to change her ________ to him. If he was being moody during their time together, she’d end their interaction by thanking him for the visit and giving him a hug — something that wasn’t typical for them. The small interventions ________; he became kinder each visit, and his moods became ________. Eventually he began reaching out to her, texting to ask, “How are you?” or saying he was proud of her, something she’d always longed to hear.

Rebuilding trust with her father ultimately helped her to engage in ________. She realized she could also be stubborn when she felt ________, and that her negative connection to her father made her less trusting of other people in her life. “I never allowed myself to dive deeply into relationships. At the first sight of a challenge, I would blame others, get angry or leave. The effort it takes to be constantly on guard is exhausting,” she says. “It reminds you of life’s happy moments.” Today, she’s thankful to be able to approach others more ________ and with an open heart.

Trust is one of the most important elements of a safe, fulfilling and well-functioning relationship. However, it often isn’t until something hurtful happens — a spouse cheats on you; a boss makes fun of you in front of colleagues — that we think about trust; we don’t notice it until it’s broken.

“I have a letter for you,” my friend Kirsten told me on the phone. “I think it’s from your mother.” I was ______, since my mother had been ______ for seven years.

A few weeks later Kirsten handed me the ______ dated Aug. 30, 2002. Aground then I was preparing for my pilot course’s final exam at the ______ school. The students finished the training on ______ days.

I was the first to ______. My mother’s letter ______ after I left. Kirsten picked it up from my mail-box, to keep ______ she next saw me.______, a few days later, when it was her turn to leave, she ______ the letter among the piles of papers she ______ packed into boxes. It ______ there for a decade, during which my mother died. In 2013, when Kirsten ______ some dusty belongings from her flying school days, she ______ the letter.

It’s been two years since Kirsten gave me the letter which I’ve carried on my long flights. But I haven’t ______ it yet. When I told some friends this, they ______ their heads. They said they wouldn’t have been able to wait a second. Of course, I ______ -How could I not? -about her ______ in the envelope. Surely, I think, she had written to wish me luck, ask about my life and tell me the news from ______ to make me at case. However, for now it’s ______ to look at her handwriting on the envelope, and to remember that until I open it, I know I’ll hear from her once more.

“We can spend the rest of our lives together making plans,” says the woman who now goes by Jeanne Watts (formerly Danas).

Jeanne and Stephen Watts first _________ and soon fell in love in 1971, when they were at Chicago ‘s Loyola University. But Jeanne ‘s mom strongly _________ the relationship because she didn’t want her White daughter seeing a Black man. Still, the pair _________ dated for seven years. But after Jeanne graduated from a nursing school and _________ a job that required a long commute (通勤) and late shifts, she faced difficulties seeing Stephen, who didn’t own a _________. Jeanne was completely overwhelmed by everything. The couple talked about _________, but Jeanne was afraid of taking that next step because the family issue was always _________ on her. Standing at the nurse’s station during her _________ one evening, Jeanne told him over the phone, “I love you, but I just can’t do this.”

Crushed by the news, Stephen was _________. They would spend the next four __________ leading separate lives and not speaking to each other.

Cut to 2021, when Jeanne was a divorced retiree whose mother was no longer __________. She began looking for Stephen from her home in Oregon, but she couldn’t __________ him on social media. Everything seemed to come to a(n) __________ end.

In April 2021, from his niece, Jeanne got to know that Stephen was in a nursing home. When she walked into the room, Stephen __________ her instantly, said her name and started to cry.

“You are my heart and soul,” Stephen told her. “I want to be with you always.”

A few months later, he asked her to marry him. “I gladly took his last __________,” says Jeanne Watts. The pair said “I do” on Oct. 15, 2022 in front of about 65Guests at the couple’s new home.