When you walk through the doors of Morton Plant Hospital on an early Tuesday afternoon,you’ll be greeted by the comforting voice of Mary Ellen Owens.

Owens, who is now 98, started _______at the hospital after her husband died nearly 20 years ago. “ My husband was a ( n) _______here, off and on for about six weeks over four years, ” she _______. “ Everyone at the hospital had been so good to us when he was sick. ” To show her _______, Owens wanted to give back in a big way. “ I don’ t have several million dollars, but I can give my _______, ” she said.

Owens is approaching 7, 000 hours in volunteer time. “ I used to give three days a week,”she said. “ Now I’ m _______. So I don’ t get around as much as I _______, so I only give one day a week. ”

To get to her weekly four-hour _______, Owens receives a ride from a volunteer who she now calls her friend. “ Every _______, Richard picks me up from my home and brings me here, ”she said. “ I don’ t believe people of my age should be ___________. ”

In her younger years, Owens used to walk up and down the fashion runways in New York City and Richmond, Virginia. She also had a( n) __________to be in the 1939 film classic Gone with the Wind. Because she had other work at the time, however, Owens _________to turn it down.

“ What I didn’ t do in my life is more __________ than what I’ ve done” , she laughs. __________ she’ s in her golden years, Owens plans to continue to live her life with __________by greeting each patient with a smile.

My father was always able to cheer me on to complete any task. No matter what I _______, “Tomorrow will be a better day” were the words he _______ hundreds if not thousands of times.

In my mid-twenties, still trying to _______ what I wanted to do with my life, I realized I was frequently changing _______because of a difficult economic (经济的) downturn. Even though I lived in a common apartment, which meant being rich in others’ eyes, I was _______.

When my father called one day to invite me out for dinner, I almost _______ him. But I will always be thankful that I _______ joined him that evening. What he said to me when he finally drove me home changed my life and my entire _______ about life.

He asked why I looked so_______. I looked at him with tears in my eyes and said that I felt so       ________ . Hugging me to his side, he told me, “You may be broke, but you aren’t poor at all. ‘Broke’ means you don’t have any money, but ‘poor’ means you don’t have any   ________. Tomorrow will be a better day.”

Now, I’m still________ every time I share these wise words with others. There have been more ________ in my life since that cold winter night, but I’ve never forgotten the lesson my father taught me. Hope has kept me ________ thick, thin and even thinner.________ that dinner with my dad, I know it always will.

My world changed when I was visiting my best friend Becky three years ago. Her dog had _________ a litter of pups and there was one puppy left when I arrived.

The puppy was so _________ that I still remember Becky saying, “Don’t get too _________, and I know you aren’t into a dog.” Unexpectedly, a few days into my visit, it _________ that this little puppy was coming home with me! I called him Timmy.

When getting home, it was very clear that my two cats were not so enthusiastic about the new _________ to our family. It took a while for the three of them to find their _________, and, for me, having a puppy really took some time to adapt to, who was always so _________ and wanted to be everywhere I was. I couldn’t believe how _________ this little puppy was on my time and love. In spite of that, there were _________ times when I wondered if I’d made the wrong decision — especially when he put __________ in my clothes. I soon learned that I couldn’t __________ things on the floor — nothing was safe from those little teeth!

Timmy is now three years old and I love __________ at the parks with my best buddy. He still follows me around like a __________. Wherever I go, my little man, who has got the best __________ that wins everyone over. I can’t __________ him not being right at my heels now.