filling the hole

I am Sam just aired again in Trans7 on some Sunday night. Being not in the mood to shed tears, I avoid the movie but cannot help retaining some lines of the movie.

It was the court scene, Annie –Sam’s neighbor- was acted as witness defending Sam to have his right to take care of Lucy back. When Michelle Pfeiffer asked her whether we should worry for Sam to be Lucy’s father, she replies:

“I worry.”

“I do worry so much that they will take Lucy away from his father. It is like taking away some enormous space of her. I’m afraid that she will spend her life only to fulfill that hole.”

Whoa. It struck me.
What hole am I trying to fulfill?