Wild Flowers

Each spring brings a new blossom of wildflowers in the ditches along the highway I travel daily to work.

There is one particular blue flower that has always caught my eye. I've noticed that it blooms only in the morning hours, the afternoon sun is too warm for it. Every day for approximately two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers.

This spring, I started a wildflower garden in our yard. I can look out of the kitchen window while doing the dishes and see the flowers. I've often thought that those lovely blue flowers from the ditch would look great in that bed alongside other wildflowers. Everyday I drove past the flowers thinking, "I'll stop on my way home and dig them." "Gee¹, I don't want to get my good clothes dirty..." Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them. My husband even gave me a folding shovel² one year for my trunk to be used for that expressed purpose.

One day on my way home from work, I was saddened to see that the highway department had mowed³ the ditches and the pretty blue flowers were gone. I thought to myself, "Way to go, you waited too long. You should have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring."

A week ago we were shocked and saddened to learn that my oldest sister-in-law has a terminal brain tumor⁴. She is 20 years older than my husband and unfortunately, because of age and distance, we haven't been as close as we all would have liked. I couldn't help but see the connection between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my husband's sister and us. I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some wonderful memories that will bloom every year for us.

And yes, if I see the blue flowers again, you can bet I'll stop and transplant them to my wildflower garden. 

　　中文：　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　每年春天都会有一些野花在我每日上班的高速路旁的沟渠中盛开。

　　有一种独特的蓝色小花总能吸引我的目光。我注意到它只在早上的时间开放，下午的日光对它来说太温暖了。大概有两周的时间，我每天都能看到那些美丽的花儿。

　　今年春天，我在自家院子里开辟了一片野花花园。我可以在做菜的时候通过厨房的窗户看到花儿。我常想，沟渠中那些可爱的蓝色小花要是能在那块花床上和其他野花在一起该有多好看。每天，当我开车经过那些花儿的时候我就会想，“回家的时候，我要停下来挖走一些”，“算了，我不想把我得体的衣服弄脏”……不管是什么原因，我从未停下来挖一些。有一年，我丈夫甚至在我汽车的后备箱里放了一把可折叠的铲子，好用来完成我那已表明的目的。

　　有一天下班回家，我发现高速公路部门已经刈过沟渠上的草了，那些可爱的蓝色花儿已无踪影，我很伤心。我对自己说：“看你做的好事，你等了太长时间。你应该在今年春天第一次看到它们盛开的时候就挖一些的。”

　　一周前，得知我丈夫的大姐患晚期脑瘤，我们很震惊也很伤心。她比我丈夫大20岁，不幸的是，因为年龄和距离的关系，我们没有像我们所希望的那样亲密。我禁不住把那些可爱的蓝色小花和我们同我丈夫的姐姐之间的关系联系起来。我确信上帝已经给我们留下了一段时间来培育一些美妙的回忆，好让它们每年都为我们开放。

　　是的，如果我再次看到那些蓝色的花儿，你可以相信，我会停下来把它们移植到我的野花花园里。

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