There was a time when I thought my dad didn’t know how to be a good father. I couldn’t  16  him ever saying the words “I love you.” It seems to me his only purpose in life was to say “  17 ” to anywhere I wanted to go and anything I wanted to do, including getting a  18 . Some parents bought their kids cars when they got their driver’s licenses. Not my dad — he said that I’d have to get a job and buy my own.
So that is what I did. I got a job at a very nice restaurant and  19  every penny I could and when I had enough to buy my car, I did! The day I brought that car home, my dad was the first one I wanted to  20  it off to. “Look, dad, a car of my own. If you ever want a ride, you only need to pay me five dollars.” I offered with a smile.
“I see,” was all he said.
One day, there was something wrong with my father’s truck. So he needed a  21  to work. The sun wasn’t even up when we left the house,   22  it was already getting warm out. It was going to be a hot day. As my dad got out of my car, I   23  him, dressed in his work clothes, getting his  24  from the truck (车尾箱) of my car. Watching his sun-weathered face, and even from a distance I could tell there were 25  lines than I ever remembered being there before. I realized how hard my dad works for the family. My father is a cement finisher(水泥修整工).
Suddenly, it came up with me that he actually got down on his hands and knees to sweat over hot concrete(混凝土) to make a living for his family. And he did this day in and day out,  26 hot it got. Never, not once, had I heard him   27  about it. To him we were “worth” it. And never once did he ask us to pay for it.
When he closed the trunk, his tools set off to the side, he walked over to my window to   28  me five dollars. I rolled down the window and said “Good-bye, dad. Keep your five dollars. It’s my __29__. Don’t work too hard. I love you.”
His eyes met mine, then glanced away in the direction of his waiting tools, he   30  his throat(喉咙) and said, “Oh, and… me, too.”