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My friend John always has something to tell me. He knows so much that young men have to have older and more worldly wise men to tell them. For instance who to trust, how to care for others, and how to live life to the fullest. Recently, John lost his wife Janet. For eight years she fought against cancer, but in the end her sickness had the last word.
我的一個朋友約翰總是有很多話和我說。他深知年輕人需要年長的、有見識的人來教會他們一些事情，諸如應該相信誰，怎樣關心別人，以及怎樣讓自己的生命盡其所能。最近，約翰的妻子珍妮特去世了。八年來，珍妮特一直與癌癥抗爭，但是最后去還是無法從病魔的手中逃出。
One day John took out a folded piece of paper from his wallet. He had found it, so he told me, when he tidied up some drawers at home. It was a small love letter Janet had written. The note could look like a school girl's scrawls about her dream guy. All that was missing was a drawing of a heart with the names John and Janet written in it. But the small letter was written by a woman who had had seven children; a woman who fought for her life and who probably only had a few months left to live.
有一天，約翰從他的錢包拿出一張折疊著的紙。他告訴我，這是他在家里清理抽屜的時候無意找到的。這是一份珍妮特的小情書，我們會以為它可能不過是學生妹對自己的白馬王子的胡言亂語罷了。但是這份小情書里面卻盡是約翰和珍妮特之間款款深情的見證，這是一個有七個孩子的女人寫的，她與病魔奮力抗爭，即使她知道自己可能只有幾個月的時間了。
It was also a beautiful recipe for how to keep a marriage together. Janet's description of her husband begins thus: "Loved me. Took care of me. Worried about me."
這也是對于如何維系婚姻的最好解答。珍妮特對于自己丈夫的描述是這樣開始的：“始終深愛我，不辭辛勞地照顧我，無論何時都關心我。”
Even though John always had a ready answer, he never joked about cancer apparently. Sometimes he came home in the evening to find Janet in the middle of one of those depressions cancer patients so often get. In no time he got her into the car and drove her to her favourite restaurant.
即使約翰的心中一直都對珍妮特的病情清楚，但他從來不拿癌癥的事情開玩笑。有的時候他晚上回到家，發現珍妮特再一次處在癌癥帶來的沮喪之中的時候，他每次都會送她上車，然后去她最愛的飯館好好開心一下。
He showed consideration for her, and she knew it. You cannot hide something for someone who knows better.
"Helped me when I was ill," the next line reads. Perhaps Janet wrote this while the cancer was in one of the horrible and wonderful lulls. Where everything is -- almost -- as it used to be, before the sickness broke out, and where it doesn't hurt to hope that everything is over, maybe forever.
"Forgave me a lot."
"Stood by my side."
他關心她，而珍妮特或許比約翰更深知這份關心。這就是所謂的你不可能把一些感情藏起來，因為對方比你更了解你。
“在我需要的時候一直關心著我。”接下來的一句這樣寫到。或許珍妮特是在癌癥有所緩解的時候寫下這些文字的。癌癥還沒有被發現的時候，兩人的生活日復一日，都以為日子會這樣繼續，如果可以甚至希望永遠。
“對我總是很包容。”
“始終在我身邊陪伴。”
