Cloze (1): 14253 JXUwMDZh   The thermostat in my room is set as high as it will go, and a smaller space heater sits directly behind me. It clicks and groans and spews heart I hot air like a fairytale dragon, and still my body shivers with a cold that will never go away, the cold that has been 80 years in the making. 80 years, I think sometimes, and despite my own acceptance of my age, it still amazes me that I haven't been warm since George Bush was president. I wonder if this is how it is for everyone my age.

Cloze (2): 14253 JXUwMDY5   Who am I? And how come I wonder, will this story in? The sun has come up and I'm sitting by a window that's foggy with the breath of life gone by. I'm a sight this morning: two shirts, heavy pants, a scarf wrapped twice around my neck and tucked into a thick sweater knitted by my daughter 30 birthdays ago.

Cloze (3): 14253 JXUwMDZi   My life? It isn't easy to explain. It has not been the rip-roaring spectacular I fancied it would be, but neither have I burrowed around with the gophers. I suppose it has most resembled a blue-chip stock: fairly stable, more ups than downs, and gradually trending upward overtime. A good buy a lucky buy, and I've learned that not everyone can say this about his life.

Cloze (4): 14253 JXUwMDZk    The romantics would call this a love story, the cynics will quoted a tragedy. In my mind it's a little bit of both and no matter how you choose to view it in the end, it does not change the fact that it involves a great deal of my life and the path I've chosen to follow. 

Cloze (5): 14253 JXUwMDZj    But do not be misled. I'm nothing a special; of this I'm sure. I am a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.