溫馨夜讀II PART3 10 The Remembrance of Lilacs

[00:00.83]10.The Remembrance of Lilacs [00:05.63]The family had just moved to Rhode Island, and the young woman was feeling a little melancholy on that Sunday in May. [00:12.38]After all, it was Mother’s Day — and 800 miles separated her from her parents in Ohio. [00:18.37]She had called her mother that morning to wish her a happy Mother’s Day, [00:22.50]and her mother had mentioned the colorful yard filled with purple lilacs. [00:26.97]Later, when she mentioned to her husband how she missed those lilacs, he popped up from his chair. [00:33.06]“I know where we can find you all you want,” he said, “Get the kids and come on.” [00:37.87]So off they went. Before they got halfway up the hill, the fragrance of the lilacs drifted down to them, [00:45.05]and the kids started running. Soon, the mother began running, too, until she reached the top. [00:51.58]There were the towering lilac bushes, so laden with the huge flower clusters. [00:57.56]Carefully, the young woman chose a sprig here, another one there. [01:02.13]Finally, they returned to their car for the trip home. [01:05.51]When they were within three miles of home, she suddenly shouted to her husband, “Stop the car. Stop right here!” [01:12.91]The man slammed on the brakes. [01:15.09]The woman went out of the car and hurried up a nearby grassy slope with the lilacs still in her arms. [01:21.63]At the top of the hill was a nursing home and the patients were outdoors strolling with relatives or sitting on the porch. [01:28.48]The young woman went to the end of the porch, where an elderly patient was sitting in her wheelchair, alone, head bowed. [01:36.33]Across the porch railing went the flowers, into the lap of the old woman. [01:41.66]She lifted her head, and smiled. [01:44.28]For a few moments, the two women chatted, both aglow with happiness, and then the young woman turned and ran back to her family. [01:52.99]“Mom,” the kids asked, “who was that?Why did you give her our flowers?” [01:58.54]The mother said she didn’t know the old woman. [02:01.70]But it was Mother’s Day and she seemed so alone. [02:05.07]“Besides,” she added, “I have all of you, and I still have my mother, even if she is far away. [02:12.81]That woman needed those flowers more than I did.” [02:16.09]The next day the husband purchased half a dozen young lilac bushes and planted them around their yard. [02:22.43]I was that man. The young mother was, and is, my wife. [02:27.02]Now, every Mother’s Day our kids gather purple bouquets. [02:31.62]And every year I remember that smile on a lonely old woman’s face, and the kindness that put the smile there.

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