母亲的礼物

（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）

我是在一个小镇上长大的，从镇上的小学到我家只需步行10分钟。离当前不算太久远的那个时代，小学生可以回家吃午饭，而他们的母亲，则会老早在家等候着。

这一切对如今的孩子来说无疑是一种奢望，可是那时的我却不以为然。我觉得做母亲的给她的孩子制作三明治，鉴赏指

画，检查他们的家庭作业，都是理所当然的事。

我从来没有想过像母亲这样一个颇有抱负又聪明的女人，在我降生之前，她有一份工作，而且后来她又谋了一份差事。可是，在我上小学那几年，她却几乎天天陪着我吃午饭，一同打发午餐时的每一分钟。

只记得，每当午时铃声一响，我就一口气地往家里跑。母亲总是站在门前台阶的最高层笑盈盈地望着我——那神情分明表示：我便是母亲心目中唯一重要的。

为此，我一辈子都要感谢我的母亲。如今，每当我听到一些声音，像母亲那把茶壶水开时发出的尖叫声，地下室洗衣机的隆隆声，还有那条狗蹦下台阶冲我摇头摆尾时，脖子上牌照发出的撞击声，便会勾起我对往事的回忆。

（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过的那些沐浴在和煦阳光之中的午餐时光。它们是我孩提时代的一个个小插曲，告诉我一个道理：人生的滋味，就在于和我们所爱的人在一起不经意地共度的日常生活、分享的点点滴滴的欢乐，而不在于某种事先测量好的添加剂。

在享用母亲做的花生酱三明治和巧克力碎末小甜饼的时候，我懂得了，爱就体现在这些细微之处。

（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.