I learned how to accept life as it is from my father. ____, he did not teach me acceptance when he was strong and healthy, but rather when he was ____ and ill.
My father was _____ a strong man who loved being active, but a terrible illness ____ all that away. Now he can no longer walk, and he must sit in a chair all day. Even talking is _____. One night, I went to visit him with my sisters, we started _____ about life, and I told them about one of my ______. I said that we must always give things up _______ we grow---our youth, our beauty, our friends--- but it always ____ that after we give something up, we gain something new in its place. Then suddenly my father _____ up. He said, “But, Peter, I gave up _____! What did I gain?” I thought and thought, but I could not think of anything to say. _____, he answered his own question, “ I ______ the love of my family.” I looked at my sisters, and saw tears in their eyes, along with hope and thankfulness.
