A Promise Kept 恪守一生的承諾

In a world where so many lives are being torn apart by divorces and heartaches, comes a story of a father and a daughter, and a promise that was kept.

現今，離婚和關系破裂粉碎了無數人的人生，然而在這樣的一個時世，有著這么一個關于一對父女信守承諾的故事。

My father was not a sentimental man. I don’t remember him ever “ooohhing” or “ahhing” over something I made as a child. Don’t get me wrong; I knew that my dad loved me, but getting all mushy-eyed was not his thing. I learned that he showed me love in other ways.

我父親不善表露感情。我記得在我小時候，他從來不為我做的任何事情而發出“噢噢噢”或者“啊啊啊”之類的感嘆。不要誤會我的意思;我知道我父親是愛我的，但是將感情外露不是他的性格。我知道他通過其他方式表達對我的愛。

There was one particular time in my life when this became real to me...

在我人生中，只有這么一回讓我感受到他的愛是如此的真實……

I always believed that my parents had a good marriage, but just before I, the youngest of four children, turned sixteen, my belief was sorely tested. My father, who used to share in the chores around the house, gradually started becoming despondent. From the time he came home from his job at the factory to the time he went to bed, he hardly spoke a word to my mom or us kids. The strain on my mom and dad’s relationship was very evident. However, I was not prepared for the day that Mom sat my siblings and me down and told us that Dad had decided to leave. All that I could think of was that I was going to become a product of a divorced family. It was something I never thought possible, and it grieved me greatly. I kept telling myself that it wasn’t going to happen, and I went totally numb when I knew my dad was really leaving. The night before he left, I stayed up in my room for a long time. I prayed and I cried and I wrote a long letter to my dad. I told him how much I loved him and how much I would miss him. I told him that I was praying for him and wanted him to know that, no matter what, Jesus and I loved him. I told him that I would always and forever be his Krissie...his Noodles. As I folded my note, I stuck in a picture of me with a saying I had always heard: “Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a daddy.”

我一直深信我父母的婚姻很美滿，但是當我——四個孩子中最小的一個——快滿十六歲的時候，我這種想法受到了嚴峻的考驗。以前父親都會幫忙做些家務雜活的，但是他漸漸地變得泄氣沮喪。從工廠下班回到家中直到上床睡覺，他幾乎不跟母親或者我們說一句話。很明顯，父母親的關系非常緊張。有一天，母親讓我們兄弟姐妹坐下來，告訴我們說父親決定離開這個家，但是我對此完全沒有心理準備。我能想到的就是我將要成為離婚家庭的產物。我從來沒想過會發生這樣的事，所以非常悲痛。我不斷地告訴自己說爸媽不會離婚的，但是當我知道父親真的要走的時候，我呆若木雞。在他走之前的那一晚，我在自己的房間里熬到深夜。我祈禱，哭泣，然后寫了一封長信給我父親。我告訴他我有多么地愛他，我以后會多么地想念他。我告訴他我正在為他祈禱，而且希望他知道，無論如何上帝和我都會愛他。我告訴他我會永遠都是他的小克莉絲……他的“面條”。折好這封信之后，我還塞了一張自己的照片進去，上面寫著一句我常常聽到的習語：“任何人都可以成為父親，但是并非人人都能成為‘爹地’。”

Early the next morning, as my dad left our house, I sneaked out to the car and slipped my letter into one of his bags.

第二天早上，我趁父親走出房子的時候，偷偷溜到小汽車里，把這封信放進他其中的一個背包里。

Two weeks went by with hardly a word from my father. Then, one afternoon, I came home from school to find my mom sitting at the dining room table waiting to talk to me. I could see in her eyes that she had been crying. She told me that Dad had been there and that they had talked for a long time. They decided that there were things that the both of them could and would change and that their marriage was worth saving. Mom then turned her focus to my eyes.

兩個星期過去了，父親幾乎音信全無。然后，一天下午，我放學回家后看到母親坐在飯廳的餐桌旁，等著跟我談一談。我從她的眼睛可以看出她剛哭過。她告訴我父親曾經來過，還和她談了好久。他們認為，他們之間有很多地方可以改善，并且在將來也會得到改善，而且他們的婚姻值得挽救。然后媽媽把目光轉過來，望著我的眼睛。