Each spring brings a new blossom of wild flowers in the ditches along the highway I travel daily to work.
　　There is one particular blue flower that has always caught my eyes. 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 through 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," "Gee, 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 shovel1 one year in 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 mowed2 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 tumor. 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.
　　每年春天,在我每日上班所經(jīng)的高速路旁的溝渠邊,總會(huì)有一些野花盛開(kāi)。
　　有一種獨(dú)特的藍(lán)色小花總能吸引我的目光。我注意到它只在早上開(kāi)放,下午的日光對(duì)它來(lái)說(shuō)太溫暖了。大概有兩周的時(shí)間,我每天都能看到那些美麗的花兒。
　　今年春天,我在自家院子里開(kāi)辟了一片野花花園。我可以在做菜的時(shí)候通過(guò)廚房的窗戶看到這些花兒。我常想,溝渠中那些可愛(ài)的藍(lán)色小花要是能在這塊花床上和其他野花在一起該有多好看。每天,當(dāng)我開(kāi)車(chē)經(jīng)過(guò)那些花兒的時(shí)候我就會(huì)想:"回家的時(shí)候,我要停下來(lái)挖走一些,""算了,我不想把我得體的衣服弄臟,"……不管是什么原因,我從未停下來(lái)挖一些。有一年,我丈夫甚至在我汽車(chē)的后備箱里放了一把可折疊的鏟子,好用來(lái)實(shí)現(xiàn)我那已表明的目的。
　　有一天下班回家,我傷心地發(fā)現(xiàn)高速公路部門(mén)已經(jīng)刈過(guò)溝渠上的草了,那些可愛(ài)的藍(lán)色花兒不見(jiàn)了蹤影。我對(duì)自己說(shuō):"看你做的好事,你等了太長(zhǎng)時(shí)間。你應(yīng)該在今年春天第一次看到它們盛開(kāi)的時(shí)候就挖一些的。"
　　一周前,得知我丈夫的大姐患晚期腦瘤,我們很震驚也很傷心。她比我丈夫大20歲,不幸的是,因?yàn)槟挲g和距離的關(guān)系,我們沒(méi)有像我們所希望的那樣親密。我禁不住把那些可愛(ài)的藍(lán)色小花和我們同我丈夫的姐姐之間的關(guān)系聯(lián)系起來(lái)。我確信上帝已經(jīng)給我們留下了一段時(shí)間來(lái)培育一些美妙的回憶,好讓它們每年都為我們開(kāi)放。
　　是的,如果我再次看到那些藍(lán)色的花兒,我敢打賭,我會(huì)停下來(lái)把它們移植到我的野花花園里。