我的姥姥

       腊月了，国内过年的气氛一定是越来越浓重了。不知怎的，近日我的脑海里，总是浮现出我幼年时一些朦胧的场景和画面。

那年的大年三十，绵绵的厚雪堆满了房前屋后。晚饭后，大姐姐和哥哥早就身着新衣，拿着灯笼放羊般地跑出家门，和小伙伴儿们成群结队地放鞭炮去了。

一直和我作伴的小姐姐因为我年龄太小而拖累，不能跑出去，都快急哭了。我和小姐姐手里挑着爸爸妈妈早就为我们特别准备的小灯笼，在屋里不停地央求着大人。那小灯笼的蜡烛早就点亮，小火苗在那带着烫花的玻璃罩里也欢快地跳跃着催促着我们。

后来，一双温暖的手，帮我带上防寒的小口罩，并用大人的围脖把我整个头包裹得就剩下一双眼睛露出来。再后来，那双温暖的手把我的小手递到小姐姐的小手里，然后为我们推开了出去的大门。

那是我最早有关寒冷的空气加上漆黑的夜的记忆。灯笼摇曳出的黄红色光和暗白色的雪，融合在灯火人家年三十儿的夜晚，一直让我追梦至今。

“快回来吧，别把妹妹冻坏了。”大门一直开着，廊厅里暖黄色的廊灯映着的那个呼唤着的身影。那朦胧的，娇小的，温暖的身影，就是我慈祥的姥姥。

每逢佳节倍思亲。下面这篇关于姥姥的作文，是我二十年前刚来到美国的这个城市，有机会上英语补习班时写下的。

*绿色字迹是老师的批改与批语。

  Ning – July 18, 1994

My Grandmother

In my childhood memories, there are a lot of stories about my grandma who had a kindly face, a pair of hard-working hands and an understanding heart.

Grandma was born in a peasant family in the countryside. She was the youngest child and had five older brothers. How happy she was as a little girl. Her five brothers were tall, strong and handsome. And she had good looking, nimble hands and charming eyes. She was a favorite of her parents, a princess to her brothers and an ideal bride of every young man.

But Grandma’s marriage wasn’t happy. When she was 16 years old, she married a smart young man who was a son of a traditional Chinese doctor. During the early years of their marriage, the young couple’s life was joyful. During the day, Grandpa learned from his father how to treat patients and Grandma did housework with her mother-in-law. At night, Grandpa taught Grandma to read and write beside an oil lamp in their room. In the second year of their marriage, my mother was born. The family was very happy. Two years later, unfortunately, Grandma was miscarriage. That baby was a boy! According to Chinese tradition, a married woman was treated like a criminal if she couldn’t bear a son for her husband. Grandma had a second daughter when my mother was 10. So the family decided that Grandpa had to marry another woman who would bear a son for their family. It was unnecessary to get a divorce from his first wife if a man wanted to marry a second wife and even more in that old China. Grandpa’s new marriage was a grief to Grandma and she could do nothing about it.

During my childhood, Grandma took care of me like a mother because my mother was always busy with her career. Grandma cooked delicious food for me and told me stories before I went to sleep. She never yelled to me when l made mistakes. I loved my grandma so much. I used to tell her some interesting stories about things that happened in my school and made faces to amuse her. I am the youngest child in my family. Sometimes, my sisters and brother didn’t like to pay more attention to me. So my grandma was one of the best audiences for me. Even if I said something naive, she would look at me closely and with her kind smile (she would never laugh at me as my older sisters and brother would do in those situations) until I realized it by myself.

My grandma was told that she had a cancer in 1972. After that, she spent her last two years in a hospital. I saw her for the last time one week before she died. I entered that white room where Grandma lay on a white bed. I held my tears back as I looked at my kindly grandma who was too weak to speak to me. She looked at me peacefully. Her eyes were still kind and understanding. We said nothing to each other at that moment. Finally, the tears started from her eyes, too.

Thanks!

*          *          *

Ning – This is a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing it with me. Your grandmother and you had a very special relationship with each other. My fragile, little grandmother and I were close to each other also.

到今年，姥姥离开我已经整整四十年了，

可我一直觉得她老人家没有走远，时时伴着我。