My father died in December. He had spent the last several years in hospital, and my mother spent a lot of her time
him. That is without doubt, a
situation for any family. And the
was a team of fairly frustrated family members.
My biggest frustration was trying to
why he didn’t make choices that would
him to be involved more fully in the lives of his grandchildren. Yet he
each and every one of them. Every morning he asked my mother which of his grandbabies was going to
that day. He had frequent visits from his collection of loving grandkids. Kids would have the place
up instantly—toys everywhere, cushions off the couches and the TV channel
to their station. Every visit was a kid invasion into his space. Interestingly, he was not at all bothered by the
or chaos at all. He was never
with them and he certainly never shouted at any child. Visits ended with
and kisses.
I felt that relationship wasn’t good enough because he didn’t actually do anything
my children. My dad didn’t read to the children, and certainly
played a board game or did a puzzle with them. He didn’t take them out for
or do any of the other things I saw active grandparents doing with their grandchildren. It made me sad that he was
to get on with the kids.
A couple of weeks after his death, my 9-year-old daughter turned up in my bedroom at midnight to share a
of him done by herself. Included in the picture were several messages and
—one for each day since he had died. The most striking one to me was“I loved EVERYTHING about you, Grandpa”.
Apparently, I was
. All that time I thought he wasn’t doing anything with his grandchildren, but he was very actively doing the thing that was most
to them. He loved them. And it was all they needed.
| 小题1: | | A．preparing for | B．taking care of | C．believing in | D．looking forward to |
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| 小题2: | | A．personal | B．boring | C．difficult | D．dangerous |
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| 小题3: | | A．result | B．solution | C．reward | D．review |
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| 小题4: | | A．explain | B．describe | C．accept | D．understand |
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| 小题5: | | A．expect | B．allow | C．force | D．persuade |
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| 小题6: | | A．respected | B．ignored | C．loved | D．blamed |
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| 小题7: | | A．leave | B．cry | C．visit | D．perform |
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| 小题8: | | A．set | B．messed | C．given | D．lit |
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| 小题9: | | A．introduced | B．switched | C．pointed | D．checked |
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| 小题10: | | A．impression | B．alarm | C．expression | D．noise |
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| 小题11: | | A．careful | B．intelligent | C．inconvenient | D．impatient |
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| 小题12: | | A．tears | B．quarrels | C．tricks | D．hugs |
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| 小题14: | | A．frequently | B．always | C．never | D．occasionally |
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| 小题15: | | A．walks | B．books | C．jokes | D．interests |
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| 小题16: | | A．hoping | B．offering | C．failing | D．promising |
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| 小题17: | | A．dream | B．plan | C．story | D．drawing |
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| 小题18: | | A．statements | B．photos | C．suggestions | D．problems |
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| 小题19: | | A．guilty | B．rude | C．wrong | D．firm |
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| 小题20: | | A．honest | B．important | C．normal | D．equal |
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