I Love You, Mom　我爱你，妈妈

　　◎?Jemifer Clarke

　　“I love you, Mom. See you tomorrow.” I said these words every day as I kissed my mom goodbye.

　　Most girls I know don’t tell their mothers they love them when they say goodbye. But I wasn’tlike girls I knew.

　　As a baby, I was adopted by two loving people who were willing¹ to take me into their home. Theybecame not only my parents, but also my best friends. As I was growing up, I learned² that my birthmother was very young when she had me and wasn’t able to care for me. I understood and wasthankful. After all, I ended up with two people who loved each other very much, and also lovedme. Three years later, they adopted another baby, Lori.

　　Until I was nine, I didn’t understand why my parents didn’t have any children of their own. Thenmy father explained that they had tried many times, but they were unsuccessful. Part of the reasonwas that my mom had diabetes³. Since I was young, I didn’t really understand what that meant. AsI was growing up, I would see my mom give herself shots⁴ and wonder why she was the only onewho had to do that. All I saw every day was a strong, beautiful, healthy woman, who spent her lifehelping people.

　　When I was thirteen, everything changed.

　　It started with a tiny blister⁵ on my mom’s toe. This may seem like no big deal, but she ended uplosing her toe. Soon she suffered a stroke⁶, and just as she began to recover from that, her leg had tobe amputated.

　　This all took place over three years. The toll⁷ this took on my family was unbelievable. My momwas in and out of five hospitals, each doing their best to help her. Sometimes she was home for afew months, but something always seemed to go wrong. When the holidays came, my father, mysister and I spent the day in her hospital room. One Thanksgiving we ate turkey there, and anotherChristmas we brought all our presents to the hospital so she could see us open them.

　　I tried my hardest to make her feel better, but nothing helped. At home, taking care of my littlesister became my job, along with cleaning the house, doing the laundry⁸ and cooking the meals. Ithought it was unfair, and took it out on my father. I hated the fact that all my friends went out onFriday nights, while I had to stay home and play “Mommy”.

　　It was even harder for me to go to school while my mom was lying in the hospital. By now, I wassixteen. Luckily she was there for my birthday party, and I’ll never forget hugging her as tears felldown both our faces. I’m still thankful for that moment with my mother because it was thehappiest I had seen her in four years.

　　But once again, the happy days became sad. On June 15, I stayed home from school to take care ofher. Once again she was admitted to the hospital. At first, no one could figure out what was wrong.

　　She remained in intensive⁹ care for a week. She began to do better. Then on July 10 she becamevery sick, and on the eleventh she almost died.

　　It was getting harder and harder to deal with. Every time she got really sick, she would alwayscome back and do even better.

　　When the doctors finally realized why she was so sick, they put her on dialysis, a treatment for herkidneys. It seemed to work on August 17, we visited her and she was doing extremely¹⁰ well. WhenI left, I kissed her and said, “I love you, Mom. See you tomorrow.”

　　At 6:30 the next morning we received a call telling us she had passed away during the night.

　　Today, a little over a year since my mom left, I am closer to my father and sister. And along withaccepting my family responsibilities¹¹, I have gained respect for my mom. I still don’t understandhow she managed to accomplish¹² all she did.

　　As for being adopted, I have no desire to find my real parents. The ones I have had are the onlyones I’ll ever need. They taught me to be strong and follow my heart. Watching my mom smilethrough all her pain taught me that I can accomplish anything. I know she’s with me through thisimportant time in my life, and she’ll guide me in the night direction.

　　“Thank you, Mom! I love you and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

　　“我爱您，妈妈。明天见。”每天在跟妈妈吻别的时候，我都会说这些话。我认识的大多数女孩在跟妈妈说再见的时候，都不会告诉妈妈自己爱她。可是，我不像她们。

　　还是个婴儿的时候，我就被一对有爱心的人收养了，他们愿意把我带到他们的家里。他们不仅成为我的父母，也成了我最好的朋友。当我渐渐长大，我知道我的生母在怀我的时候还很年轻，没有能力抚养我。我能理解这些，并且对这一切充满感激。毕竟，我最终遇上了一对互敬互爱的人，而且他们爱我。三年后，这对夫妇又收养了另外一个孩子——洛里。

　　直到9岁，我才明白为什么我的父母没要一个他们自己的孩子。那时，爸爸解释说，他们尝试过很多次，但是都没有成功。部分原因是妈妈患有糖尿病。那时我还年幼，不能真正理解那意味着什么。我渐渐长大，看到妈妈为自己打针，我不明白为什么只有她一个人这样做。我每天看到的都是一个坚强、美丽、健康的女人，一生都在帮助别人的女人。

　　我13岁的时候，一切都改变了。

　　首先是从妈妈脚趾上的一个小水疱开始的。这看上去似乎没什么大不了，但是她差一点就失去了一个脚趾。不久之后，妈妈又患了中风，而就在她刚开始恢复的时候，又不得不接受一条腿的截肢手术。

　　这一切仅仅在三年之内全部发生。我们家为此付出的代价简直让人难以置信。妈妈在五家医院进进出出，每家医院都竭尽所能帮助她。有时妈妈在家里住上几个月，但是这期间总会有一些不妙的事情发生。假日里，爸爸、妹妹和我就在病房里陪她。有一年感恩节，我们还在医院里一起吃火鸡；还有一年圣诞节，我们把所有的礼物都带到医院，让她看着我们把礼物打开。

　　我想尽办法想要使她感觉快乐一点，但是一切都是徒劳。在家里，照看小妹妹成了我的工作，同时我还要打扫房间、洗衣服、做饭。我觉得这对我不公平，便发泄在爸爸身上。我所有的朋友都能在周五晚上出去玩，而我却不得不待在家里，充当“妈妈”的角色，我讨厌这个事实。

　　更困难的是，妈妈躺在医院的病床上，我还要去上学。我现在只有16岁。幸运的是，妈妈出席了我的生日聚会，我永远也不会忘记，当我拥抱她的时候，我们母女泪流满面的情景。我至今都对与妈妈在一起的那一刻充满感激，因为那是四年来，我所见到的妈妈最快乐的时刻。

　　但是，快乐的日子再一次变成了悲伤。6月15日，我没去上学，而是留在家里照顾她。她再一次被送进医院。刚一开始，没人能发现她出现了什么问题。妈妈在加护病房里一连待了一星期。后来她开始好起来，但是7月10日，她的病情又加重了，到11日时，她已徘徊在生死线上。

　　病情变得越来越难处理。每一次当她濒临死亡时，她都能起死回生，甚至显得更好些。

　　当医生们终于认识到她病情恶化的原因后，他们为她做了肾透析。看起来透析很有效果，8月17日，我们去医院看望她时，她的状况非常好。我离开的时候，吻了她，对她说：“我爱您，妈妈。明天见。”

　　第二天早上六点三十分，我们接到医院的电话，被告知妈妈于昨晚去世了。

　　今天，妈妈离开我们已经一年多了，我与爸爸和妹妹的关系变得更加亲密。在接过了家庭责任的同时，我还因为妈妈得到了别人的尊敬。我仍然不能明白，妈妈是怎样完成她所有的事业的。

　　身为养女，我并不想找到自己的生身父母。我曾有过的父母才是我唯一需要的父母。他们教育我要坚强，要跟随自己的心。看着妈妈笑对痛苦，我懂得了，我可以完成任何事。我知道，妈妈正陪我走过生命中这段重要的时光，她会引领我朝正确的方向前进。

　　“谢谢您，妈妈！我爱您，明天见。”

 

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