After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my mother, who has been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.

在21年的婚姻后，我的妻子希望我帶另一個女人出去吃飯和看電影。我妻子希望我拜訪的另外一個女人是我的母親，她守了19年的寡，但我的工作需求和三個孩子令我只能偶爾去拜訪她一下。

That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. She waited in the door with her coat on. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary. She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel’s.

那個下周五下班后，我開車去接她，我有點緊張。她穿著外套等在門內。她卷了頭發，穿著她穿去慶祝最后一次結婚紀念日的裙子。她像天使一樣容光煥發地微笑著。

After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only read large print. Half way through theentrees, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips. “It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,”she said.

我們坐下來后，我開始讀菜單。她的眼睛只能看放大的字體。主菜吃到一半的時候，我抬頭看見母親坐在那兒看著我。她的嘴邊有一絲懷舊的笑容。“在你小的時候，曾經讀菜單的那個人是我，”她說。

During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation –nothing extraordinary but catching up on recent events of each other’s life. We talked so much that we missed the movie.

在晚飯期間，我們達成共識——不聊什么特別的，只追隨彼此生活的近況。我們聊了如此之多，以至于我們錯過了電影。

A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t have a chance to do anything for her.

幾天后，我的母親由于一場嚴重的心臟病發作離開了人世。事情發生得如此突然，以致于我沒有機會再為她做任何事。

Some time later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place mother and I had dined. An attached note said: “I paid this bill in advance. I wasn’t sure that I could be there; but nevertheless, I paid for two plates – one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me. I love you, son.”

過了一段時間，我收到了一封含有我和母親吃的同一家餐廳的收據復件的信件。附著的紙條寫道：“我提前把單買了。我不確定我是否能出現。但盡管如此，我付了兩人份——一份給你，另一份給你的妻子。你永遠不會知道那晚對我意味著什么。我愛你，兒子。”