母親的禮物

（一）

I grew up in a small town where the elementary school was a ten-minute walk from my house and in an age not so long ago, when children could go home for lunch and find their mothers waiting.

At the time, I did not consider this a luxury, although today it certainly would be. I took it for granted that mothers were the sandwich-makers, the finger-painting appreciators and the homework monitors.

I never questioned that this ambitious, intelligent woman, who had had a career before I was born and would eventually return to a career, would spend almost every lunch hour throughout my elementary school years just with me.

I only knew that when the noon bell rang, I would race breathlessly home. My mother would be standing at the top of the stairs, smiling down at me with a look that suggested I was the only important thing she had on her mind.

For this, I am forever grateful. Some sounds bring it all back: the high-pitched squeal of my mothers teakettle, the rumble of the washing machine in the basement and the jangle of my dogs license tags as she bounded down the stairs to greet me.

（一）

我是在一個小鎮上長大的，從鎮上的小學到我家只需步行10分鐘。離當前不算太久遠的那個時代，小學生可以回家吃午飯，而他們的母親，則會老早在家等候著。

這一切對如今的孩子來說無疑是一種奢望，可是那時的我卻不以為然。我覺得做母親的給她的孩子制作三明治，鑒賞指

畫，檢查他們的家庭作業，都是理所當然的事。

我從來沒有想過像母親這樣一個頗有抱負又聰明的女人，在我降生之前，她有一份工作，而且后來她又謀了一份差事。可是，在我上小學那幾年，她卻幾乎天天陪著我吃午飯，一同打發午餐時的每一分鐘。

只記得，每當午時鈴聲一響，我就一口氣地往家里跑。母親總是站在門前臺階的最高層笑盈盈地望著我——那神情分明表示：我便是母親心目中唯一重要的。

為此，我一輩子都要感謝我的母親。如今，每當我聽到一些聲音，像母親那把茶壺水開時發出的尖叫聲，地下室洗衣機的隆隆聲，還有那條狗蹦下臺階沖我搖頭擺尾時，脖子上牌照發出的撞擊聲，便會勾起我對往事的回憶。

（二）

I often look back on our lunchtimes together, bathed in the soft midday light. They were the commas in my childhood, the pauses that told me life is not savored in premeasured increment, but in the sum of daily rituals and small pleasures we casually share with loved ones.

Over peanut-butter sandwiches and chocolate-chip cookies, I learned that love, first and foremost, means being there for the little things.

（二）

我常常回想起和母親在一起度過的那些沐浴在和煦陽光之中的午餐時光。它們是我孩提時代的一個個小插曲，告訴我一個道理：人生的滋味，就在于和我們所愛的人在一起不經意地共度的日常生活、分享的點點滴滴的歡樂，而不在于某種事先測量好的添加劑。

在享用母親做的花生醬三明治和巧克力碎末小甜餅的時候，我懂得了，愛就體現在這些細微之處。

（三）

A few months ago, my mother came to visit, I took off a day from work and treated her to lunch. The restaurant bustled with noontime activity as business people made deals and glanced at their watches.