Night after night, my mother came to my bed, even long after my childhood years．She would 1 down and push my long hair out of the way, and then kiss my forehead．
I don't remember when it first started 2 me－her hands pushing my hair that way, for they felt work－worn and rough 3 my young skin．Finally, one night, I shouted out at her, “Don't do that any more－your hands are too rough!” she made no 4 and left quietly．
But never again did my mother do it with that familiar expression of her 5 ．
With the passing years, my 6 returned to that night time after time．By then I 7 my mother's hands and her goodnight kiss．Sometimes the incident seemed very 8 , sometimes far away, but always it was 9 in the back of my mind．
The years have passed, and I'm not a little girl any more．Mom is in her seventies, and those hands I once 10 to be so rough are still doing things for me and my family．
Now, Mom no longer has Dad and lives 11 ．One night on Thanksgiving Eve, I found myself 12 to her house to spend the night with her．As I slept in the bedroom of my youth, a familiar hand hesitantly ran across my face to 13 the hair from my forehead．Then a 14 , ever so gently, touched my forehead．I burst into tears．
In my memory, thousands of times, I 15 the night my young voice complained．Catching Mom's hand in hand, I told her how 16 I was for that night．I thought she'd remember 17 I did．But Mom didn't know what I was talking about．She had already forgotten and 18 long ago．
That night, I fell asleep with a new 19 for my gentle mother and her caring hands．And the guilt that I had carried around for so long was 20 to be found．
We’ve heard it before－we’ve heard it on the news, from teachers, from parents－children and teenagers today are growing up too fast．There are not too many people that will 1 with that statement．Teenagers are faced with serious problems and decisions at an early 2 ．In fact most teenagers’ daily schedules are as 3 as those of an adult’s．
I have been working since I was thirteen, and always in 4 in which I was working with adults．I have had to learn to think and 5 like an adult to be taken seriously．So, I count myself as one who has grown up too fast．I just graduated from high school, and have recently spent some time reflecting(反思)on the 6 eighteen years-thinking about myself, what I have gained, and what 7 I have yet to achieve．
We are expected to work hard, get excellent 8 , be in a good relationship, and know what we want to do 9 ．The list goes on and on．But the 10 is clear：We live in a society today that is 11 our childhood．We no longer have many years to be careless and fancy-free．We are expected to 12 the strict school rules and to excel(擅长)in everything we do．I’ve known these things for a long time, and knew that they 13 me．But, I never really admitted it until last night, when I learned a 14 lesson, taught to me by my boss where I work．We had finished a job at a remote site．It was about 11∶30 at nig-ht, and we had 15 to his house．We were talking about the 16 he had been making to his home．One of the things he said was “I 17 my basketball hoop(篮圈)．” Then he threw a basketball to me．
I hadn’t 18 a basketball in five years．
We proceeded to shoot hoops for about 40 minutes．Both of us were terribly bad at it, but we spent the whole time 19 away like children．Then I realized something：I am still a child．Oh, the law says I’m an adult．But, we are still really and truly children．We all need to have 20 once in a while．
