我的姥姥

       臘月了，國內過年的氣氛一定是越來越濃重了。不知怎的，近日我的腦海里，總是浮現出我幼年時一些朦朧的場景和畫面。

那年的大年三十，綿綿的厚雪堆滿了房前屋後。晚飯後，大姐姐和哥哥早就身着新衣，拿着燈籠放羊般地跑出家門，和小夥伴兒們成群結隊地放鞭炮去了。

一直和我作伴的小姐姐因為我年齡太小而拖累，不能跑出去，都快急哭了。我和小姐姐手裡挑着爸爸媽媽早就為我們特別準備的小燈籠，在屋裡不停地央求着大人。那小燈籠的蠟燭早就點亮，小火苗在那帶着燙花的玻璃罩里也歡快地跳躍着催促着我們。

後來，一雙溫暖的手，幫我帶上防寒的小口罩，並用大人的圍脖把我整個頭包裹得就剩下一雙眼睛露出來。再後來，那雙溫暖的手把我的小手遞到小姐姐的小手裡，然後為我們推開了出去的大門。

那是我最早有關寒冷的空氣加上漆黑的夜的記憶。燈籠搖曳出的黃紅色光和暗白色的雪，融合在燈火人家年三十兒的夜晚，一直讓我追夢至今。

“快回來吧，別把妹妹凍壞了。”大門一直開着，廊廳里暖黃色的廊燈映着的那個呼喚着的身影。那朦朧的，嬌小的，溫暖的身影，就是我慈祥的姥姥。

每逢佳節倍思親。下面這篇關於姥姥的作文，是我二十年前剛來到美國的這個城市，有機會上英語補習班時寫下的。

*綠色字跡是老師的批改與批語。

  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，姥姥離開我已經整整四十年了，

可我一直覺得她老人家沒有走遠，時時伴着我。