媽媽的單獨(dú)旅行

by Lynn Cianfarani

喬皙 譯

媽媽的單獨(dú)旅行

A Solo Trip Takes a Mother Home

by Lynn Cianfarani

喬皙 譯

For years, I was lost in that delicate dance of working and raising young children. Breakfast at seven. Clothes picked out. Backpacks flled. Off to school. Drive to sports…or music lessons…or friends’houses. Dinner. Homework. Bed. And in between babies’ naps and play dates and taxiing, I ft in my “real”job—online teaching and academic advising. Phew.

有好幾年，我迷失在工作和養(yǎng)兒育女的忙碌生活中。七點(diǎn)吃早餐，然后挑選衣服，裝好背包，出發(fā)去學(xué)校，開車送孩子們?nèi)ド象w育或音樂課或去朋友家。吃晚餐、做作業(yè)、睡覺。在孩子睡覺到帶他們游玩、乘車之間的這段時間，我抽空做我“真正”的工作—網(wǎng)絡(luò)教學(xué)和學(xué)業(yè)指導(dǎo)。呼。

I remember, oh so clearly, that morning I brought my third child home from the hospital. As I walked in the door, carrying a day-old baby, the home phone rang. Out of habit, I rushed to answer, only to be greeted by a student asking questions about his courses. Looking back, I can almost see that red flag floating over my head, warning me that something had to change.

我記得，噢，太清楚了，那天早上我把第三個孩子從醫(yī)院帶回家。我?guī)е惶齑蟮膵雰鹤叩郊议T口時，家里電話響了。出于習(xí)慣，我匆忙趕去接聽，原來只是一個學(xué)生詢問關(guān)于他所學(xué)課程的問題。回想過去，我?guī)缀蹩吹搅嗽谖翌^上飄揚(yáng)的紅旗，提醒我要作出改變。

That flled-to-the-brim schedule went on for years. It was, at first, delightfully exhausting. Predictably, though, it wore me down.

那個滿滿的日程表持續(xù)了好幾年。一開始是勞累并快樂著的。然而，不出所料，那把我累垮了。

One evening, after a conference with a student, a homework session with a 10-year-old, and a midnight baking1)stint for a fifth-grade class party, I2)slumped to the floor. I can’t make another batch of cookies, I thought. I don’t want to advise another student. I had gone from superwoman to broken-down woman, right there in my dimly lit kitchen, with my family all safely tucked into bed.

一天晚上，先是跟一個學(xué)生開會，接著指導(dǎo)一個十歲的小孩做作業(yè)，然后為準(zhǔn)備五年級的班級派對在深夜烘培，最后我重重地倒在了地板上。我想我不能再繼續(xù)做餅干了。我不想再指導(dǎo)學(xué)生。就在昏暗的廚房里，我從一個女超人變成一個累垮了的女人，而我的家人正酣然入睡。

Pulling myself up off the floor, I realized I had to get out of Dodge. It took me less than 24 hours to make my plans.

從地板爬起來后，我意識到我必須走出困境。我只花了不到24小時來制定我的計(jì)劃。

“I’m going on a journey,” I announced at a family dinner that week.

“我準(zhǔn)備去旅行，”在那周全家一起吃晚飯時，我對他們宣布了這件事。

“To the mall?” my young daughter asked.

“去購物中心嗎？”我的小女兒問道。

“No,” I explained. “I’m going on a trip–alone–to Los Angeles. And I’m taking the cross-country train.”

“不是，”我向她解釋。“我要一個人去洛杉磯旅行，我要坐州際火車。”

A quick flight to a neighboring state held no interest. Rather, I pulled out the3)Amtrak map, selected their longest route and reserved a ticket to Southern California.

搭飛機(jī)一下子飛到鄰州沒一點(diǎn)意思。于是我拿出美國鐵路公司的地圖，選了一條最長的路線，預(yù)定了一張到南加州的火車票。……