If we watch carefully, we can see courage everywhere. I see it in my classroom when a student _________ her hand and says, “I’m completely lost.” Do you know how _________ it is to say so when you’re pretty sure everyone else gets it?

I recently saw another _________ of ordinary courage in my son Charlie’s preschool. Parents were invited to   _________ for a music performance by the kids. You know the _________——twenty-five children singing with fifty-plus fathers and _________ in the audience holding up cameras.

One girl cried her way through the entire _________ because she couldn’t see her mom. As I was telling Charlie goodbye, I saw her mom burst through the door and immediately start _________ the room for her daughter. Another mother walked by this stressed mom, shook her head and _________ her eyes.

Just at that time, another mom walked up to this __________ mom and smiled. “I wasn’t just late. I __________ forgot,” She said, “It’s okay, We’re in the same boat,” The woman’s face __________ and she wiped away a tear. By the time she made it to the corner where the teacher was still __________ her daughter, she looked calm.

The mom who stopped and shared her story of __________ was practicing courage. She didn’t have to. Every time we choose __________, we make the world a little kinder and braver.

When I was three, Connie, my new sister, was born on December 17, 1993. Eleven months later, this smiling child was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). The doctors at John Hopkins gave her an 8% ________ of survival. With the help of our ________ parents, Connie was able to fight against the disease and ________ went into remission（缓解期）. Months later, Connie had a relapse（复发）. After a (n) ________ second relapse in 1996, with a survival rate now at only 1%, the doctors ________ a bone marrow transplant（骨髓移植）was the best route to take. After ________ our blood types, the doctors found an exact ________. Me. I was honored to be able to help my sister.

After the bone marrow transplant Connie spent her summers in the neighborhood pool. She could always be ________running around the house in bathing suit. Staying in the remission for five years would mean Connie’s cancer would be ________. But before Connie could ________ year three, cancerous cells started to ________ her body once more; she relapsed.

Connie ________ during this relapse. becoming progressively ________. During the summer of 1999, she was not able to ________ in the pool or ride her bike. She spent her summer days in hospital.

When November ________ around, Connie hit rock bottom. The doctors said it was her ________. When I was nine years old, on November 19, 1999, my family and I said our goodbye to a child who did not live ________ the age of six.

Connie is a ________, to my family and me. She is a role model to people who knew her. Her bravery and courage was greater than ________ I know. Connie has taught me by example: it is hard to ________ a person who never gives up.

My mother passed away when I was two. Two years later, I got a stepmom, Tina. I________to accept her and I didn’t treat her well. Somewhere inside me a________said, “She can’t take the________of Mom. She’s not my mom; she can’t tell me what to do.”

________I was about twelve, my father gave me a sudden awakening. One day, after I had been terribly ________to Tina, he took me aside and said something like, “Do you think that I’m the one who________your favorite foods, clothes and toys? Do you think that I plan________things like going to the movies, pool, and Kings Island? Well, I don’t. Tina is the one who does all those things. It’s time that you start________her with kindness.”

I was________shocked. Instantly (立刻), my heart was________guilt and shame. A________of thankfulness and love came over me. That day I ________calling her Mommy Tina. By the age of fourteen, I________the Tina and called her Mom.

Now, at age twenty-five, I’m writing this to show my love and________for her. I will always be________for this strong, beautiful woman who was brought into my life.