Financial trouble had distanced us from the life that was. We decided to 1 our home. But first, we'd have to deal with two hugely 2 hollies（冬青树 ) that have overtaken the front of the house.
We called landscapers（园艺师）. The news wasn't 3 . 20-plus years of neglect left us with only two 4 : Let them be or tear them out. The idea of cutting off all that life just for a better view 5 us. We have never owned any green thing that grew well, except for those crazy hollies. But we still scheduled the 6 .
Over the two weeks before cutting, though, the trees 7 me. So I emailed one last landscaper. I pinned my hopes on that. Daria came to our front lawn and said, "These can't be trimmed ( 修剪 )." "The trunks are too 8 ," she added. "I can cut them down to about 2 feet of trunk and see if they'll grow."
See if they'll grow? Months? Years? I said nothing, but Daria could read our 9 . "If nothing happens," she said, "we'll get you some new ones." We gave her the green light.
But weeks later, I 10 the front bed. Three or four bunches of tiny leaves 11 from one trunk. It was the 12 of small, good things arriving.
Each day, they made us smile,13 us to have patience and gave us hope that all of us have the 14 to heal. For that, we thank those quiet, strong hollies, now 15 to the spring, as we look forward to starting fresh.
