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My shock and embarrassment at finding Mother in tears on Wednesday was a perfect index of how little I understood the pressures on her. Sitting beside her on the couch, I began very slowly to understand.
星期三，當發現媽哭時我所感到的震驚和窘迫，完全表明了我對媽所承受的壓力是多么的不理解。我坐在她的身旁，慢慢開始理解了。
“I guess we all have to fail sometime,” Mother said quietly. I could sense her pain and the tension of holding back the strong emotions that were interrupted by my arrival. Suddenly, something inside me turned. I reached out and put my arms around her.
“我想我們都不免有失敗的時候，”媽平靜地說。我可以感覺到她的痛苦，也感覺到她在極力抑制著由于我闖進來而被打斷的強烈情感的發泄。突然，我心里一酸，伸開雙臂，把媽摟在懷里。
She broke then. She put her face against my shoulder and sobbed. I held her close and didn't try to talk. I knew I was doing what I should, what I could, and that it was enough. In that moment, feeling Mother's back racked with emotion, I understood for the first time her vulnerability. She was still my mother, but she was something more: a person like me, capable of fear and hurt and failure. I could feel her pain as she must have felt mine on a thousand occasions when I had sought comfort in her arms.
媽再也控制不住了。她把臉貼著我的肩膀，抽泣著。我緊緊抱著她，沒有說話。我明白我是在做我應該做的和我所能做的，這就夠了。媽非常激動，我感到她的背在顫抖。就在那一時刻，我第一次明白媽也有弱點。她還是我的媽，但又不僅如此：她和我一樣也是一個普通的人，會害怕，會受到傷害，會遭到失敗。我感覺到她的痛苦，就像我千百次在她懷里尋求安慰時，她感到我的痛苦一樣。
