错过的幸福
有一个年轻人即将大学毕业。几个月前，他就看中了某汽车展销会的一辆跑车。他知道，他的父亲一定买得起这辆车，于是他告诉了父亲自己想要什么。
毕业典礼的日子临近，年轻人满怀希望地等待父亲买下那辆跑车的消息。终于，在他毕业典礼的那天清晨，父亲把他叫到了书房，告诉他，他因为有一个如此优秀的儿子而感到自豪，他非常爱他。
他递给儿子一个精美包装的礼物盒，年轻人好奇地打开它一看，大失所望，里面是一本精美的《圣经》，上面还烫金印着自己的名字。年轻人怒气冲冲地对父亲大声说道：“你那么富有，却只送给我一本《圣经》？”他扔下《圣经》，冲出了家门。
很多年过去了，年轻人已事业有成。
他有一栋漂亮的房子，一个幸福的家庭，但想到父亲已年迈，或许应该去看看他。
自从毕业那天后，他便再也没有见过他。
他还没来得及安排行程，却收到了一封电报——他的父亲已经过世了，立下遗嘱将所有的财产转给儿子。他要立即回家料理后事。
当他赶到父亲的家，突然感到一阵悲伤和悔恨。他开始翻阅父亲的重要文件，然后，看到了那本多年前他扔掉的《圣经》，还是跟新的一样。他打开它，开始一页一页地翻阅。正当他认真阅读时，突然一把钥匙从书后面掉了出来。钥匙上还挂着一个标签，上面写着一个汽车经销商的名字，正是他曾想得到的那辆跑车的经销商。标签上还有他的毕业日期，以及几个字：“款已付清”。
多少次，我们就这么与祝福擦身而过，仅仅是因为它的包装不是我们想象中的样子。不要因为渴望而毁坏了我们已经拥有的东西。要记着这一点：你现在拥有的，正是你曾经渴望得到的。
有时候，我们并没有意识到，好运其实已经在身边，或者以与我们想象中不同的“样子”出现。其实，那些看起来是“不幸”的东西或许正是等待开启的幸运之门。
The Missed Blessings
A young man wasgetting ready to graduatefrom college. For manymonths he had admireda beautiful sports car ina dealers showroom， andknowing his father couldwell afford it， he told himthat was all he wanted.
As graduation dayapproached， the youngman awaited signs that hisfather had purchased thecar. Finally， on the morningof his graduation， his fathercalled him into his privatestudy. His father told himhow proud he was to havesuch a fine son， and told himhow much he loved him.
He handed his son abeautiful wrapped gift box.
Curious， but somewhatdisappointed， the young manopened the box and found alovely， leather-bound Bible，with the young mans nameembossed in gold. Angrily，he raised his voice to hisfather and said， “With allyour money you give me aBible？” He then stormedout of the house， leaving theBible.
Many years passedand the young man wasvery successful in business.
He had a beautiful homeand a wonderful family，but realizing his fatherwas very old， he thoughtperhaps he should go to seehim. He had not seen himsince that graduation day.
Before he could make thearrangements， he receiveda telegram telling him hisfather had passed away， andwilled all of his possessionsto his son. He needed tocome home immediately andtake care of things.
When he arrived athis fathers house， suddensadness and regret filledhis heart. He began tosearch through his fathersimportant papers and sawthe still new Bible， just as hehad left it years ago. Withtears， he opened the Bibleand began to turn the pages.
As he was reading， a car keydropped from the back ofthe Bible. It had a tag withthe dealers name， the samedealer who had the sportscar he had desired. On thetag was the date of hisgraduation， and the words...
“PAID IN FULL”.
How many times dowe miss blessings becausethey are not packaged as weexpected？ Do not spoil whatyou have by desiring whatyou have not； but rememberthat what you now have wasonce among the things youonly hoped for.
Sometimes we dontrealize the good fortunewe have or we could havebecause we expect “thepackaging” to be different.
What may appear as badfortune may in fact be thedoor that is just waiting tobe opened.
母亲的含义
一位名叫埃米莉的妇人在县办公室给驾驶执照办理延期时，被女记录员问她的职业。她犹豫了一下，不确定怎么给自己归类。“我的意思是，你有没有工作。”
那个记录员解释说，“还是说你仅仅是一个……”
“当然，我有工作，”埃米莉立刻回答，“我是一个母亲。”
“在我们这里，母亲不被看成是一个职业……家庭主妇就行。”那名记录员断然说道。
这个故事听后我就忘掉了，直到有一天在市政厅，我发现自己也遇到了相同的问题。很明显，那名办事员是个职业女性，精干，有自信，还有着一个跟“官方讯问员”或“镇登记员”之类很高大上的头衔。“你的职业是什么？”她盘问我。
到现在为止我也不明白，当时是什么在作怪，我脱口而出：“我是儿童发育和人类关系研究员。”
那个办事员愣住了，手里拿着原珠笔，现在也不动了。她抬起头看我，似乎没听明白我说什么一样。
我又慢慢重复了一遍我的职业，在说到重要的词时还加重了语气。之后，我惊讶地看到，我的话被粗黑的笔记在了官方的问卷上。
“我能否问一下，”这个办事员好奇地问，“在这个领域你具体工作是什么？”
我很镇定地回答：“我的项目是不间断的（哪个母亲不是这样呢），工作地点是实验室和现场（一般我会说室内和室外）。我在为学位奋斗（就是我们全家人），并且已获得了四个学分（全部是女儿）。当然，我的工作是人类要求最高的工作之一（有哪个母亲会不同意呢）一般工作时间是每天14小时（24小时更精确）。这个工作比大多数普通工作的挑战性更大，但是，它获得的回报常常不是金钱，更多的是满足感。”
那个办事员的声音对我流露出更多的敬意。她填完表格后，站起来，亲自把我送到了门口。
我驱车回到家，把车停在家门口的车道时，依然对自己的头衔洋洋得意。
我受到三个年龄分别为13岁、7岁、3岁的实验室助手的欢迎，从楼上传来我们的新实验模特儿（一个6个月大的婴儿）的声音，她扯着嗓门，测试着新的声音模式。
我觉得很有成就感！我居然战胜了官僚机构！现在，在官方的纪录上，我不仅仅是一个母亲了，我是人类出类拔萃、不可缺少的一个人。
母亲……这是多么光荣的职业！尤其是，当这个已成为官方记录了。
这是否意味着奶奶和姥姥是“资深儿童发育和人类关系研究员”，而曾祖母就是“高级研究员”
呢？我是这样认为的！
我还想到，姑妈和阿姨就是“研究员助理”。
Not Just a Mom
A woman named Emily renewing her drivers license at the County Clerksoffice was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation. She hesitated，uncertain how to classify herself. “What I mean is，” explained the recorder， “do youhave a job， or are you just a...”
“Of course I have a job，” snapped Emily. “Im a mother.”
“We dont list mother as an occupation... Housewife covers it，” said therecorder emphatically.
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation，this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a career woman， poised，efficient， and possessed of a high sounding title like， “Official Interrogator” or“Town Registrar.” “What is your occupation？” She probed.
What made me say it， I do not know...
The words simply popped out. “Im a ResearchAssociate in the field of Child Developmentand Human Relations.”
The clerk paused， ballpoint pen frozen inmidair， and looked up as though she had notheard right.
I repeated the title slowly， emphasizingthe most significant words. Then I stared withwonder as my pronouncement was written inbold， black ink on the official questionnaire.
“Might I ask，” said the clerk with newinterest， “just what you do in your field？”
Coolly， without any trace of fluster in myvoice， I heard myself reply， “I have a continuingprogram of research， (what mother doesnt)，in the laboratory and in the field， (normally Iwould have said indoors and out). Im workingfor my Masters， (the whole darned family)， andalready have four credits， (all daughters). Ofcourse， the job is one of the most demanding inthe humanities， (any mother care to disagree？)and I often work 14 hours a day， (24 is morelike it). But the job is more challenging thanmost run-of-the-mill careers and the rewardsare more of a satisfaction rather than justmoney.”
There was an increasing note of respectin the clerks voice as she completed the form，stood up， and personally ushered me to thedoor.
As I drove into our driveway， buoyed upby my glamorous new career， I was greeted bymy lab assistants - ages 13， 7， and 3. UpstairsI could hear our new experimental model， (a6-month-old baby)， in the child-development program， testing out anew vocal pattern.