写给离家的孩子:妈妈能有多么爱你

They're gone now.
他们已经走了。

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.
我站在车道上，看着我那些已长大的孩子驶远。我凝视着那路的尽头，直到再看不见他们的车。

"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?"
“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？”

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.
我回到屋里，只是漫无目的地行走于各个房间里。他们才刚走，我就已经开始想他们了，只好在屋里寻找着他们曾逗留的痕迹。地板上的枕头是孩子们从沙发上扔下来的，一些布绒玩具动物正躺在孩子们之前玩耍的地方。

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.
我对着镜子上的小指印微笑，没去擦。回想起当我的孩子还小时，我竭力不让镜子和房门沾上指印。现在，我希望这些小指印都留在上面，好让我看久一点。

As I walked around the house, I picked up a few items on the floor and straightened a chair. I decided to sort through the toy box and I found a flying dinosaur, a skeleton, and a Frankenstein that had mysteriously taken up residence in my box of toys.
当我在屋里四处游走时，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。而我发现了一只会飞的恐龙、一架动物骷髅，连弗兰肯斯坦这个人造怪物也不知怎的就神秘地跑到那玩具箱里了。

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.
我走进厨房，水池后面有一个被落下的洗瓶刷。“哈，连特莎也落下了一个东西，”我说道。噢，肯定是有人帮她刷瓶子给落下的，毕竟她只有四个月大。

"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.
“我想知道还有什么东西落下了，”我大声地自言自语道。我丈夫听见了我的话，也和我一块搜寻那些落下的东西。

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?"
似乎每次我们家庭聚会，他们总会落下一些东西。每次我打电话告诉我的孩子他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上吧。”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？”

"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.
“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，今早她成功把它拽了下来。“现在，她没法把牙放在她的枕头下了。我想知道，如果我把它放在我的枕头下，那传说是否奏效。牙仙子会很困惑的！”我笑了。