幸好，我还有另外一个家_大学英语阅读

幸好，我还有另外一个家

And, once again, there was Mike. After the funeral, he was a constant presence. He made sure that food filled the cupboards, the bills were paid, and the lawn was mowed. (Mike’s adult daughter, Linda, pitched in[8] and took care of his house.) He made sure I went back to school even when it was the last thing I wanted to do. His overbearing[9] personality―the trait I had hated the most―was what comforted me the most and got me through those difficult days.

One day he offered to become our guardian. In a moment where the grief of loss and the pain of being unwanted threatened to capture my very breath, this man, whose only tie to us was having dated my mother, said he would be honored to take us in.

From that moment on, everything was different. His girlfriend, Patty, threw us a “guardian party” when the paperwork[10] became official. It was just a small gathering, but it made us feel special.

Over the years, Mike has become not merely a legal guardian but a real father to me. When I fell into depression in college, unable to get past thoughts of my mother and all I had lost, he was there to listen. When my husband, Eric, and I bought our first house, Mike spent weekends installing insulation and repairing our gutters. He never wrote me off as[11] a good, mature kid who could handle everything herself. He walked the line between trusting me and recognizing when I might need help. And what more could you want from a father than that?