The day was warm and the sun shone down like a new beginning in my life. I was waving goodbye to my son, the last one of my children to leave home and go to a new place — university. I felt so light-hearted after spending many years looking after my four children — cooking, washing, ironing, teaching them hew to look after themselves and manage many other things — that I actually thought "At last, I was free".
But, as I watched my last one leave, although it was joyful, I realized I had not been really prepared for this day. I was too busybringing upthese adults of the future to realize that they would all leave the nest and live by themselves.
At first I didn't know what I wanted to do. I tried a part-time job, the result of which was that I ran out in tears. I started another business, but that didn't work, either. I grew my own vegetables and fruit, which lasted 3 years. But one day my doctor advised it was not fit for me to do this because of the pain of my feet.
I began wondering whether I had a future of my own. I cried for the life I was used to, and hadn't known or wanted anything different.
Then one day I saw an advertisement for foster(代养的) parents. I discussed it with my husband who was always behind everything I tried and then I rang up the number. A week later, a girl named Tracy became a member of my family.
I now laugh and sing with my 14-year-old foster daughter, even when my kitchen is dirty and in a mess and my bathroom is totally out of order. I now know, 8 years later, the meaning of my doing all these things with the spare hours, days, and weeks when my last child flew the nest. The sun shines once again in my home.
(2) In the third paragraph, the poor mother did all the things just to ________ .
(4) The underlined phrase "bringing up" means ________ .
(5) Thanks to the foster daughter, the author ________ .