Love Letters

In fifth grade， Brett liked me. I knew because he teased me relentlessly. One day， he stole the hat from my head and used it in a game of catch with his friends. Later， I received a note that said： Sorry I took your hat. I like you. Do you like me？ —Brett. My ten-year-old brain couldn’t process the strange feelings I had， so I did what any girl who might like a boy would do when faced with this dilemma. I wrote back： No. After Brett read the note， he immediately ran off and started joking with his friends as if nothing had happened， but the teasing stopped. Permanently. Almost 20 years later， I’m sure his heart has mended， but mine never has. It’s a little-known fact I learned that day in fifth grade： when you break someone’s heart， a part of yours goes missing， too.

情書

在我五年級的時候，布雷特喜歡我。我知道的，因?yàn)樗麜M情地捉弄我。一天，他把我頭上的帽子偷走了，用來和他的朋友們玩投擲游戲。之后，我收到一張便條，上面寫著：對不起，我拿了你的帽子。我喜歡你，你喜歡我嗎？——布雷特。我那只有十歲的大腦無法表達(dá)當(dāng)時的那種奇怪感覺，所以我做了任何一個可能喜歡某個男生的女孩子在面對這種困境時會做的事。我回了一張便條，寫著：不。布雷特看了便條之后，立刻跑開了，然后像沒事發(fā)生過一樣跟他的朋友開起了玩笑，但是卻不再捉弄我了。永遠(yuǎn)也沒有再捉弄我了。大概20年之后，我肯定他已經(jīng)不再傷心，但是我卻不然。這是我在五年級的那一天領(lǐng)悟到的一個鮮為人知的事實(shí)：當(dāng)你傷了某個人的心時，同時也傷了自己的心。

Eddie

His name is Eddie. The big， tall maple that lived in our front yard. We named it Eddie because momma always said that there was a refreshing eddy of a breeze that would come right around that tree in the sticky， hot summer. Eddie is in all our family photographs， the first day of school：“Go stand near Eddie so I can take a picture.” Easter：“Kids line up near Eddie. Quick， before you go get your church clothes all dirty！” Prom： “Why don’t you and George go stand over near Eddie？ Ya’ll look so grownup！” Eddie was our home base for our massive neighborhood games of hide and seek “I gotcha ya！” “No way. I tagged Eddie first！” Eddie is still the first thing I see when I pull up to my parents’house. A few less leaves， bending perhaps a bit more， but standing proud， delivering his cool breeze.

埃迪

他的名字叫埃迪。那是一棵又大又高的長在我家前院的楓樹。我們給他命名為埃迪（與單詞eddy同音，eddy指“一陣漩渦”）是因?yàn)閶寢尷鲜钦f在黏黏的酷熱的夏天，那棵樹給我們送來了陣陣清新的微風(fēng)。我們所有的全家福里都有埃迪的身影。上學(xué)的第一天：“站到埃迪旁邊，我拍張照?！睆?fù)活節(jié)的時候：“孩子們在埃迪旁邊排成一列?？?，趁這身新衣服還沒弄臟前照一張?！碑厴I(yè)舞會的時候：“要不，你和喬治一起靠近埃迪來照一張？瞧，你們都一副大人樣了?！卑５显?jīng)是我們和眾多鄰居玩捉迷藏的大本營?！拔易プ∧懔?！”“不可能，是我第一個給埃迪貼標(biāo)簽的！” 埃迪如今仍然是我去父母家時看到的第一樣?xùn)|西。葉子稀少了些，佝僂了一些，但是傲然而立，傳遞著涼爽的微風(fēng)。

My Life in 150 Words

My life in one word is easy—blessed. My life in 150 words is a little harder. Here are some words from the beginning； poor， afraid， abused， hungry， but that was only part of it. Mix in laughter， love， family， and adventure and the picture becomes a little clearer. Words have always played a big part in my life. Reading was my escape， writing was my reprieve. School was my refuge. Fast forward twenty years and I still love words， family is even more important， but those first words have changed to happy， joyous， strong， and hopeful. Now I’m saved， set free， in love with Tommy and with life. Jacob is growing and Shelby and Haley soon became our daughters. Life isn’t perfect， it’s not supposed to be， but the love of God is and that is enough. Never give up； your words can change too.

150個字的人生

我的生活用一個詞講很簡單——幸福。用150個詞的話就有點(diǎn)難了。剛開始有一些詞，比如貧窮、恐懼、受虐、饑餓，但是那只是生活的一部分而已。生活混合著笑聲、愛、家庭和冒險(xiǎn)，藍(lán)圖也變得更為清晰了。文字在我的人生中總是扮演著很重要的角色。讀書是我逃避苦難的方式，寫作是我緩和傷痛的方式。學(xué)校是我的避難所。時間飛快，二十年過去了，我仍然鐘情文字，家庭也更加重要了，但是那些最初的文字已變成了快樂、歡欣、堅(jiān)強(qiáng)和充滿希望?，F(xiàn)在我獲救了，解放了，和湯米相愛，也愛上了生活。雅各布在長大，謝爾比和海莉很快成了我們的女兒。生活不完美，它也不應(yīng)該是完美的，但是上帝的愛是完美的，那就夠了。絕不放棄；你的文字也可以改變?nèi)松?/p>