Dusting off the collection of photos that grace our family room wall, I lingered over the water color painting I had done of the old house, a gift to Bill, before that house was torn down to make room for the new one.
在擦拭着那些把我们家房间墙壁装饰得漂亮雅致的照片时，我在一幅水彩画前停了下来。这幅以老房子为主题的画作是我在拆掉老房子、建造新房子之前画的，是我送给丈夫比尔的礼物。
It seems like decades ago that we occupied that small two bedroom, gray sided home. Memories continued to flow freely as I stared at the home that Bill and I had lived in for over 23 years, and also the place where our two daughters grew up.
那时我们住在一间两居室的灰色小屋里，回想起来仿佛已经是几十年前的事了。我凝视着画中的小屋，无数回忆不断涌现——比尔和我在小屋里生活了23年多，两个女儿也是在那里长大的。
In the painting, the house is depicted in all its summer time glory—lush pink, red, white and purple flowers overflowed in the flower beds that, by August, resembled tall colorful bushes in all their flowering finery. The proof was there right on the wall. When we bought the house we fell in love with its cozy, livedin charm.
画上呈现的是夏令时节老房子周围的盛况——花坛上遍布大片粉红色、红色、白色和紫色的花朵，八月里，众花齐放，一簇簇高高的花丛就像五彩华服一般。证据就在墙上。当年买下这间房子时，我们就爱上了它的“魅力”——舒适惬意，充满生活气息。
What we learned was that old-fashioned charm translated into lots of repairs. That old house was far from perfect, but the memories invoked are priceless. I’m particularly remembering back to when the girls were young.
后来我们才知道，这种老式风格的“魅力”意味着大量的修葺工作。那间老房子并不完美，不过它所唤起的回忆却极其珍贵。我对女儿们还很小时发生的事情仍记忆犹新。
It was raining one Saturday afternoon and they wanted to play on their swing set. Bill went to the garage and returned with 4 huge round eye hooks and his trusty power drill. He went to work drilling the heavy duty bolts into the frame of the kitchen doorways. Then he went back outside to retrieve the swings. A few seconds later the girls were happily swinging from the kitchen doorways—laughing and squealing with delight over their rainy day adventure.
一个下着雨的周六下午，女儿们想玩秋千。比尔去了趟车库，拿回来四个又大又圆的链钩以及他那台可靠耐用的动力钻。他先在厨房门框上钻上巨大的螺栓，接着到外面把秋千装置搬进屋。不一会儿，女孩们就开心地在厨房门框上荡起了秋千——这一雨天的玩乐让她们欣喜得又笑又叫。
Another time, Bill came home with an over-sized plastic slide. I foolishly asked him where he thought he was going to put it as our house was way too small to accommodate such a big toy. He gave me a look like I was the loony one and told me it would fit just fine in the frontroom. When it was discovered that the slide wasn’t slick enough Bill had a solution—some baby powder sprinkled on the surface! It was smooth sliding all the way. Afterwards, my clever hubby vacuumed up the powder on the rug, and the front-room was none the worse for wear.
还有一次，比尔带回了一座超大规格的塑料滑梯。我傻傻地问他打算把它放在哪里，因为我们的房子实在太小，无法容纳那样一件大玩具。他像看傻子一样看了我一眼，告诉我说，那座滑梯刚好可以放在客厅里。当发现滑梯表面不够光滑时，比尔想到了一个解决方法——在滑梯表面洒一些宝宝爽身粉！如此一来，滑梯变得非常光滑。随后，我那聪明的丈夫用吸尘器吸走地毯上的粉末，我们家的客厅并没有因此而变脏。
I guess the reason for flashing back to these memories is the fact that we are now grandparents. This new turning point in our lives has definitely brought out the kid in us. Oh, and I’m also looking at the familiar hooks in the door frame. We have a double doorway that divides the family room and my home office. Bill sized it up one day and decided it would be a great spot to hang a swing for our granddaughters. At first I balked at the idea. I resisted, but then I remembered the fun the swinging sisters had and I relented. The bolts were screwed in and a pink baby swing gets hooked up whenever our little angel Avery wants to go for a ride. Our new house is a perfect home compared to the one we lived in for so many years. It is big, beautiful and can handle any ideas that my dear hubby can concoct.
我想，脑海里之所以会闪现这些记忆片段，源于这样一个事实——现在我们已经是外祖父母了。这一新的人生转折点无疑会勾起我们内心的童真。噢，我正在看着门框上那熟悉的吊钩。新房子里有一道双重门，将家人的房间与我的家庭办公室分割开来。某天，比尔度量一番之后认定这是挂上一副秋千供外孙女们玩耍的绝佳位置。起初，我反对这个主意，态度强硬，不过随后想起女儿们当年玩秋千时那种开心的场景，我心软了。门上的螺栓 已经扭紧了，一副粉红色的儿童秋千被吊了起来，我们的小天使艾弗里随时想玩都可以。与那间居住了多年的老房子相比，我们的新房子很完美——空间大、环境优美，还可以让我亲爱的丈夫将其种种奇思妙想付诸实施。
Last Christmas the girls had another painting done, this one of the new house. It is hung right next to the old one, and in between them is a silver heart that says, “Home is where you hang your heart. It doesn’t matter if your house is big or small, fancy or plain. It takes love, laughter and joy to make a house a home.” I’m looking forward to the years ahead with my grandkids, those here and those yet to be born. I hope our house will be a home they’ll have fond memories of, whether they’ll be sliding, swinging or dancing their way into the future.
去年圣诞节，女儿们为这间新房子画了一幅画。这幅画就挂在那幅旧作旁边，在它们中间是一颗银色的心，上面写着：“家乃心之所在。不管你的房子是大还是小，是豪宅还是陋室，一间拥有爱、笑声和欢乐的房子才是家。”我期待着与外孙们（已经出生以及那些尚未出生的）一起度过的未来时光。我希望我们的房子会成为这样一个家——里面有着他们各自珍爱的种种回忆，不管是滑滑梯、荡秋千，还是跳着舞迎接未来。