“A career is stimulating，” she said.
“Im glad I had one. But a career is likean open balloon. It remains inflatedonly as long as you keep pumping.
A child is a seed. You water it. Youcare for it the best you can. And thenit grows all by itself into a beautifulflower.”
Just then， looking at her， I couldpicture us sitting at her kitchen tableonce again， and I understood whyI kept that flaky brown dandelionin our old family dictionary pressedbetween two crumpled bits of papertowel.
我生命中的另一个女人
经历了21年的婚姻生活后，我发现了一个永葆爱的激情的方法。
不久前，我开始和另一个女人约会。这其实是我妻子的主意。
“我知道你很爱她。”那天她这样对我说，让我非常惊讶。
我的妻子让我去约会的另一个女人，其实是我的妈妈。
她已经寡居19年了，但由于我的工作繁忙，还有三个孩子需要照料，以致我们见面的时间很少。
那天晚上，我打电话给她，邀请她出来与我共进晚餐，然后去看一场电影。
“出什么事了吗？你还好吧？”她问。我妈妈就是这样的人，一个稍微晚些的电话或一个意外的邀请，都会让她觉得是某种坏消息的信号。
“我只是想和您共度一段美好的时光，”我解释说，“就我们两个。”
她犹豫了一下，说：“我很荣幸。”
周五下班后，我开车去接她。到达她家的门口时，我莫名地有些紧张，我察觉到，她对于我们的约会似乎也有些紧张。
她已经在屋内穿上了外套，烫了头发，甚至穿上了她最后一次庆祝结婚纪念日时的连衣裙。
她笑容满面，容光焕发，就像一个天使一样。
“我告诉朋友们，我要和自己的儿子出去约会，他们都很惊讶。”当她坐进车内时，说，“他们都迫不及待地想知道我们约会的事情。”
我们去的那家餐厅，并不是十分高档，但环境很好，很舒适。
我的妈妈挽着我的手臂，好像自己是第一夫人一样。
我们坐下后，我给她念菜单。她的视力不好，只能看清大字。
上完主菜后，我抬起头，看见妈妈正盯着我，嘴角挂着一抹奇特的微笑。
“在你小时候一直是我给你念菜单。”她说。
“那么，现在到了让您休息一下，让我来为您效劳的时候了。”我回答。
整个晚餐过程中，我们相谈甚欢，没有什么特别的大事，只是说些生活中的细碎琐事。我们聊天如此欢快，以致于错过了电影。
后来，我把她送回家，她说，“我还会再跟你出去的，但下次必须让我来请你。”
我没反对。
“晚餐吃得怎么样，玩得开心吗？”
一到家，妻子就问我。
“非常好，出乎我的意料！”我回答。
没想到母亲几天后突发严重心脏病，撒手人寰。事情发生得如此突然，我都没来得及为她做任何事。
不久后，我收到一封信，是我那次和妈妈去吃饭的那家餐厅寄来的账单复件。
还有一张字条，上面写着：“我已预付了账单，可我觉得自己可能去不了了，但还是订了两个位置——给你和你的妻子。你不会明白那一晚对我的意义多么重大。我爱你！”
那一刻，我突然意识到，及时说出“我爱你”，与我们深爱的人分享当下的美好时光是多么重要……昨天是支票，已经付讫。
明天是本票，还未到期。
今天是现金……用心去花。
The Other Woman in My Life
After 21 years of marriage， I discovereda new way of keeping alive the spark of love.
A little while ago I had started to goout with another woman. It was really mywifes idea.
“I know that you love her，” she said oneday， taking me by surprise.
The other woman that my wife wantedme to visit was my mother.
She had been a widow for 19 years，but the demands of my work and my threechildren had made it possible to visit heronly occasionally.
That night I called to invite her to goout for dinner and a movie.
“Whats wrong， are you well？” Sheasked. My mother is the type of woman whosuspects that a late night call or a surpriseinvitation is a sign of bad news.
“I thought that it would be pleasant topass some time with you，” I responded， “justthe two of us. ”
She thought about it for a moment thensaid， “I would like that very much.”
That Friday after work as I drove overto pick her up I was a bit nervous. When Iarrived at her house， I noticed that she， too，seemed to be nervous about our date.
She waited in the door with her coaton. She had curled her hair and was wearingthe dress that she had worn to celebrate herlast wedding anniversary.
She smiled from a face that was asradiant as an angels.
“I told my friends that I was going to goout with my son， and they were impressed，”
she said， as she got into the car. “They cantwait to hear about our meeting.”
We went to a restaurant that， althoughnot elegant， was very nice and cozy. Mymother took my arm as if she were the FirstLady.
After we sat down， I had to read themenu. Her eyes could only read large print.
Half way through the entree， I lifted myeyes and saw Mom sitting there staring atme. A nostalgic smile was on her lips.
“It was I who used to have to read themenu when you were small，” she said.
“Then its time that you relax and letme return the favor，” I responded.
During the dinner we had an agreeableconversation， nothing extraordinary， butcatching up on recent events of each otherslives. We talked so much that we missedthe movie.
As we arrived at her house later shesaid， “Ill go out with you again， but only ifyou let me invite you.”
I agreed.
“How was your dinner date？” My wifeasked when I got home.
“Very nice. Much more so than I couldhave imagined，” I answered.
A few days later my mother died ofa massive heart attack. It happened sosuddenly that I didnt have a chance to doanything for her.
Some time later I received an envelopewith a copy of a restaurant receipt from thesame place mother and I had dined.
An attached note said： “I paid this billin advance. I was almost sure that I couldntbe there， but nevertheless I paid for twoplates-one for you and the other for yourwife.”
You will never know what that nightmeant for me. “I love you.”
At that moment I understood theimportance of saying， in time： “I LOVEYOU” and giving our loved ones the timethat they deserve...
Yesterday is a canceled check.
Tomorrow is a promissory note.
Today is cash...Spend it wisely.
回家
我第一次听到这个故事，是几年前我在纽约的格林尼治村遇到一位姑娘，从她那儿听说的。也许，这个故事每过几年都会被神奇地润色一番，但我仍然相信，它在某时某地曾真实地发生过。
三个男孩和三个女孩登上了前往佛罗里达的劳德达拉要塞的公交车，他们带着纸袋装的三明治与葡萄酒，向金色的海滩出发，灰蒙蒙的寒冷的纽约被他们抛在身后。
当汽车穿过新泽西州时，他们注意到前排坐着一个叫温格的男人。他穿着一套不合适也不起眼的西装，风尘仆仆的样子，看不出年龄，他一动不动地坐着，不时地咬咬嘴唇，陷入沉思中。
夜深了，汽车停在华盛顿郊外的霍华德约翰逊连锁餐馆。所有人都下车透气，只有温格仍坐在位子上。年轻人们开始对他好奇起来，猜测他的生活际遇：
也许他是个船长，也许是离家出走的，或者是一个回家的老兵。当他们再次回到车上时，其中一个女孩坐到温格的身边，并向他作了自我介绍。
“我们都是去佛罗里达的，”那个女孩欢快地说，“我听说那里很美。”
“是的，”他静静地回答，似乎想起了某些难忘的往事。