Left Behind 

Pamela Perry Blaine

 1. They’re gone now. 

 2. I stood in the driveway and watched my grown children drive off into the distance. I looked down the road until I could no longer see their vehicles. 

 3. “They live way too far away from me,” I said to myself. “When did they grow up and become parents of small children? Shouldn’t that be me?” 

 4. I slipped back inside the house and just walked through the rooms for no reason in particular. I was just missing them already and looking for signs of their having been here. There were pillows on the floor where they had been tossed from the couch and a few stuffed animals lying around where the children had been playing.

 5. I smiled at the little fingerprints on my mirror. I didn’t wipe them off. I thought back to the time when I tried so hard to keep the fingerprints off the mirrors and doors when my children were small. Now, I wanted the tiny fingerprints to stay so that I could see them there just a little longer.

 6. As I walked around the house, I picked up a few items on the floor and straightened a chair. I decided to sort throughthe toy box and I found a flying dinosaur, a skeleton, and a Frankenstein that had mysteriously taken upresidence in my box of toys.

 7. I walked into the kitchen and there on the back of the sink was a bottle brush that had been left behind. “Ah, even Tessa left something behind,” I announced. Well, I suppose she had help since she was just four months old. 

 8. “I wonder what else has been left behind,” I said out loud to no one in particular. My husband heard me and joined the search for things left behind. 

 9. It seems like every time our family gets together something is left behind. When I call my children to tell them what they have left behind I am usually told, “Oh, just bring it when you come,” “Keep it for me until I come back the next time,” or “Hey, I really need that, would you mind mailing it to me?”

 10. “Oh look! Here’s Tegan’s tooth,” I said to my husband as I picked up a ziplock bag with her name engraved on it.Tegan had a loose tooth and had managed to wiggle it out earlier in the day. “Now, she can’t put it under her pillow. I wonder if it will work if I put it under my pillow. The Tooth Fairy is going to be so confused!” I laughed.

 11. I walked on around the house finding more things that had been left behind: a toothbrush, a ponytail band, an angel figurine, a pie pan, a frozen teething ring in the freezer, and last but not least the insides of a turkey fryer.

 12. I was really kind of enjoying myself. It gave me something to do, after they left, to take my mind off missing them. 

 13. Then my eyes teared up as I noticed the baby outfitbeside the sink where it had been left to dry after spots had been scrubbed out of it. The little outfit, now stain free,reminded me of the trip to the emergency room with Rowan due to a gash on her head that was caused from a flower pot pulled over by her curious little fingers.

 14. “Hmmm, things left behind …” I pondered to myself. It seems there is one thing that is left behind on every occasion.Memories are always left behind, I reasoned, and what a precious thing good memories are to us. I thought how each item left behind reminded me of the person it belonged to and the story surrounding it. The insides of the turkey fryer that was left behind reminded me of the delicious Thanksgivingmeal that we all enjoyed. The empty pie pan reminded me of Katie’s delicious pies. The angel figurine reminded me of the white elephant gift exchange game that we play every year.Even the bad memory of Rowan’s injury reminded me of how frightened I was at the sound of her cry. It is a bad memory that turned into a good one as it reminded us of how precious little Rowan is to us.

 15. Memories happen even if we aren’t aware of it. The stressful and difficult moments often become memories that we look back on later with laughter and joy. They are the stories of the future when one day someone will say, “Remember when ...?”, and everyone laughs.

 16. Then, of course, there are some memories that need to be left behind. The memories of past hurts, unforgiveness, bitterness, and anger should be left behind forever. These are the things that we should never keep until the next time, mail back, or bring with us to our next visit.

 17. Yes, I stood in the driveway and watched my grown children drive off into the distance and I remembered my own parents once doing the same thing. I never knew then that I would one day be the one waving from the driveway and feeling my heart drive off down the road. That’s because there is one more thing besides memories left behind ... and that is love.

 18. As Elizabeth Stone said, “To have a child is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

     【译文】

               遗留在时光背后的思念念                               帕梅拉•佩里•布莱恩 

1.他们已经走了。                                 2.我站在车道上，看着我成年的孩子们驾车远去。我凝视着公路的尽头，直到再也看不见他们的车。                          

3.“他们住得离我太远了，”我自言自语道。“他们什么时候长大且为人父母的？我不是才长大，才为人父母吗？”                    4.我回到屋里，只是漫无目的地从一个房间转到另一个房间。 我就已经开始想他们了，在屋里寻找着他们曾经生活的印记。地板上的枕头是孩子们从沙发上扔下来的，一些布绒动物玩具正躺在孩子们之前玩耍的地方。     5.看着镜子上的小指印，我笑了，没有去擦。回想起孩子还小时，我竭力不让镜子和房门沾上指印。可现在，我希望这些小指印都留在上面，这样我能多看一会儿。

6.当我在屋里转来转去时，我捡起地上的一些物品，并把一张椅子摆正。我决定整理一下玩具箱里的玩具，结果发现了一只会飞的恐龙、一副骨架和一个弗兰肯斯泰因怪物，也不知这怪物是如何在我的玩具箱里安家的。     7.我走进厨房，水槽后部有一个被落下的洗瓶刷。哈，连泰莎的东西也忘带走了，”我说道。噢，肯定是有人帮她刷瓶子，毕竟她只有四个月大。   8.“我想知道还有什么东西落下了，”并非特意对谁说话，我却出声地说出来了。 我丈夫听见了我的话，也和我一块搜寻那些落下的东西。       9.似乎每次我们家庭聚会以后，总会留下点什么东西。每次我打电话告诉孩子们都落下些什么的时候，他们通常会跟我说，“噢，下次你来时给我们带来吧。”或者“帮我留着，下次我回去再取。”又或者“嗨，我急着用，能帮我邮寄过来吗？”                             10.“噢，看！这是泰根的牙，”我边捡起一个写着她名字的自封袋，边对丈夫说道。泰根先前有颗牙松了，那天早些时候她把它拽出来了。“现在，她没法把牙放在她的枕头下了。我不知道，如果我把它放在我的枕头下，那传说是否会奏效。牙仙子会弄不清是怎么回事了！”我笑了。       11.我继续在屋里转来转去，发现了更多被落下来的东西：一把牙刷、一根发带、一个天使小雕像、一个烙馅饼用的平底锅、一个放在冰柜里冷藏的牙胶，最后还有火鸡油炸锅内胆。                         12.我还真的挺乐在其中的。 这使我在他们走后有事可做，从而暂时摆脱对 他们的思念。                                   

13.随后，当我看到污渍被刷洗后晾在水槽旁的婴儿套装时，我的眼泪涌了出来。那件小套装，现在虽然污渍没了，却让我想起了带罗恩去急诊室那件事。那次，她用好奇的小手拉倒了一个花盆，花盆在她头上划开了一道很深的口子。                                     14.“嗯，留下的东西……”我陷入沉思中。有一样东西似乎每次都留下来了。我寻思着，有些记忆总是留存在脑海里，美好的记忆对我们来说是如此珍贵。我想着每一件落下的东西如何勾起了我对物主以及相关故事的追忆。那个落下的火鸡油炸锅内胆使我想起了我们都很享受的那顿美味感恩节大餐；空空的烙馅饼用的平底锅使我想起了凯蒂的美味馅饼；天使小雕像使我想起了我们每年都会玩的“白象礼物交换游戏”。甚至关于罗恩受伤的那段糟糕的记忆也使我想起了听到她的哭喊声时，我有多惊恐。这段糟糕的记忆之所以变得美好是因为它提醒了我，小罗恩对我们来说是如此珍贵。     15.有些回忆总是悄悄地涌上心头。当我们回首往事时，我们会对那些压力重重和艰难困苦的过往时刻报以欢笑，心生喜悦。未来的某天里，有人会问：“还记得吗？当时……”这时，一个个故事又会被引出，众人亦随之呵呵大笑。                                       16.当然，也有一些记忆是该忘却的。那些曾经的伤害、怨恨、苦痛、愤怒的记忆应该永远忘却。我们永不该把这些负面情绪留存至再次发生的时候，不该用以回敬他人，也不要待到下次见面时还依然耿耿于怀。         17.是的，我站在车道上，看着成年的孩子们驾车远去。我记起自己的父母也曾做着同样的事。我从没想过自己有一天也会在车道上向远方挥手，感受着自己的心沿路远行。那是因为，除了留下的记忆以外，还有一样东西保留下来了……那就是爱。                               18.正如伊丽莎白•斯通所说： “有了孩子就永远注定你的心不会放在自己身上了。”