Music is my first love. I can sit down at the piano and 1 all about my problems. During the lowest moment in my life, music was my greatest comfort.
After2 service in the army, I became an iron worker. A few years ago, the one-bedroom bungalow (平房)I 3 in Massachusetts was sold. Though the landlord (房东)gave me two months rent-free to find a new place to live, nothing affordable 4 . Eventually, I packed up my 5 and slept in my car, thinking it would only be 6. But weeks turned into months and the months into years. The one thing that kept me alive was 7. While I had developed cataracts (白内障)，nothing could keep my fingers from finding the right keys.
One Christmas Eve, I was driving to where I would 8 my car and sleep at night when another car came around the corner and into my way. With my only home destroyed, I felt as if my life were out of 9 and would never get back on key again.
10 Bruce Knight, a retired firefighter drove me to a 11shelter in Maine, where I met case managers from Volunteers of America's Veterans Services. With their help, I moved into their transitional housing, and got the surgery I needed to 12my eyesight. Almost every day, I'd play for hours, 13 lost in the music. People would gather around my piano, singing and 14.
Thinking back to those days, I realize how blessed I've been that people have helped me when I couldn't 15 how to help myself. They took me in, and encouraged me to make music.
