My mom，Elsa，is only four feet ten，but she has a great personality. I learned everything about cooking   36   her. She’s also a great businesswoman. Once she ran nine   37  at the same time just by herself   38   she talked to her employees，she’d stand on a box. Thus she could  look them straight in the eye and   39   connect with them.

    These days 1 work in my mom’s restaurant. Of course， we quarrel with   40   other sometimes，but I think it's  41  to be open and honest and let things out. Since God has given us all kinds of senses，we should each have our own  42  and，of course，we can’t always   43 with others’opinions.

    One day a woman   44  Vicky was helping me prepare caponata for a cooking class. ”You forgot sugar and vinegar，”Vicky pointed out. ”They’re ingredients in most caponata recipes. ”

    I explained to her，”In my family，we don’t   45   sugar and vinegar to our caponata. ”

    She argued，”We do in my family，and our caponata is very good. ”

  “Yeah? Well， 46  is great!” I shouted back.

  Back and forth we went   47  we both burst into tears. What are you doing? I asked myself. You became so angry  48  because of a recipe! Then I hugged Vicky closely and she hugged me right back. We’ve been best  49  ever since.

  Be real. Make connections with people. Look them in the eye. Tell them how you feel. Don’t be afraid to say  50  you mean. When you let go of the feelings you hold inside，you’11 be amazed at what comes back to you.