Sometimes, I wonder whether there was any love between my parents. They were busy trying to1their new business. They didn't act romantically. They didn't 2 their feelings. They just got used to the company of each other, and I 3 it as kinship (亲情), not love.
One day, my mother was sewing a quilt (缝被子). I sat down beside her and asked, "Is there any4 between you and Dad?" She didn't answer at once.
I thought I had hurt her. At last my mother said, "Susan, look at this thread (线). Sometimes it 5, but most of it disappears in the quilt. It makes the quilt 6 and durable (耐用的). If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can 7 be seen anywhere or anytime, but it's really there."
I listened carefully but I didn't understand her until the next spring. My father suddenly got seriously 8 and he had to stay in hospital for at least one month. My mother took really good care of him without any 9.
After they returned home, my mother helped my father walk slowly down the country road every day for rehabilitation training (康复训练). They two, hand in hand, supported each other. Once, I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. But the 10 is that love is just a thread that holds a family together.
