Dear Dad，Today I was at the shopping mall and I spent a lot of time reading the Father’s Day cards.
親愛的爸爸：今天我在商場購物的時候，花了好長時間閱讀有關“父親節”的賀卡。
They all had a special message that in some way or another reflected how I feel about you.
那些卡片上的文字很特別，也或多或少地表達出了我對您的感受。
Yet as I selected and read, and selected and read again, it occurred to me that not a single card said what I really want to say to you.
我挑選讀過一次後，又挑選讀了一遍，這才意識到，我想對您說的話，並不是一張賀卡就能表達出來的。
You’ll soon be 84 years old, Dad, and you and I will have had 55 Father’s Days together.
爸爸，很快您就要84歲了，您和我也將度過這第55個“父親節”。
I haven’t always been with you on Father’s Day nor have I been with you for all of your birthdays.
“父親節”的那天，我總是不能和您在一起，連您過生日的時候我也是這樣。
It wasn’t because I didn’t want to be with you.
但這並不是因為我不想陪在您身邊，其實，在我心裡，我總是和您在一起。
I’ve always been with you in my heart but sometimes life gets in the way.
不過，有的時候，生活也會有差錯。
You know, Dad, there was a time when we were not only separated by the generation gap but completely polarized by it.
爸爸，您也知道，曾有一段時間，我們父女倆因為代溝不在一起生活。
You stood on one side of the Great Divide and I on the other, father and daughter split apart by age and experience, opinions, hairstyles, cosmetics, clothing, music, curfews, and boys.
比如年齡、個人閱歷、觀點、髮型、化妝品、服裝、音樂、作息時間以及男朋友，因為這些，我們的觀點也非常對立，您站在“大分離”的一端，我站在“大分離”的另一端。
The Father-Daughter Duel of‘54 shifted into high gear when you taught me to drive the old dodge and I decided I would drive the ‘54 Chevy whether you liked it or not.
那時，您教我學開那部道奇舊車，可我卻不管您喜不喜歡，執意要開雪佛蘭54那輛車。
The police officer who escorted me home after you reported the Chevy stolen late one evening was too young to understand father-daughter politics and too old to have much tolerance for a snotty 16-year-old.
當時，我們父女倆關於雪佛蘭汽車的爭執也調到了最高擋。可那天晚上，您卻報警說雪佛蘭車被盜，之後，一個警官護送我回家，可他太年輕了，根本不明白我們父女倆之間的政治鬥爭，可他也不小了，對一個16歲的流鼻涕的小孩沒有足夠的寬容心。
You were so decent about it, Dad, and I think that was probably what made it the worst night of my life.
爸爸，您對這件事倒是處理得很體面，可我卻覺得那是我一生中最糟糕的一個夜晚。
Our relationship improved immensely when I married a man you liked, and things really turned around when we begin making babies right and left.
在我嫁給了一個您喜歡的女婿後，我們倆的關係才緩和了很多，後來，我和您的女婿為了好好生個孩子，就轉身離開了，我們之間的那些事情也就結束了。
We didn’t have a television set, you know, and we had to entertain ourselves somehow.
您也知道，我和您女婿沒有電視機，就只好自娛自樂了。
I didn’t know what to expect of you and Mom as grandparents but I didn’t have to wait long to find out.
我不知道作為外公外婆的您和媽媽還有什麼可期待的，但是，沒過多久我就找到了答案。
Those babies adored you then just as they adore you now.
過去那些孩子崇拜您，現在他們還像以前那樣愛慕您。
When I see you with all your grandchildren, I know you’ve given them the finest gift a grandparent can give.
當我看見您和您的外孫在一起的時候，我知道您已經給了他們最好的禮物。
You’ve given them yourself.
您把心都掏給他們了。
Somewhere along the line, the generation gap evaporated.
就是這樣，我們之間的代溝慢慢消失了。
Age separates us now and little else.
現在年齡和其他問題的差異把您和我分開。
We agree on most everything, perhaps because we’ve learned there isn’t much worth disagreeing about.
可我們在大多數事情上的看法都是一樣的，這可能是因為我們明白了沒有什麼值得我們爭辯吧。
However, I would like to mention that fly fishing isn’t all you’ve cracked it up to be, Dad.
無論如何，我想提示一下的是，爸爸，飛蠅釣魚是您最喜歡的一種釣法。
You can say what you want about wrist action and stance and blah, blah, blah...
關於手腕動作和站姿您愛怎麼說就怎麼說，以及那些沒用的話什麼的……
I’ve been happily drifting for a lot of years, Dad, and I didn’t see you getting older.
爸爸，雖然我已經漂泊很多年了，但是我很快樂，然而，我發現您沒有變老。
I suppose I saw us and our relationship as aging together, rather like a fine wine.
隨著年齡的增長，我認為我們之間的關係慢慢地融洽了好多，像是一瓶美酒，越陳越香。
Numbers never seemed important.
家人看起來好像沒有一點意義似的。
But the oddest thing happened last week.
但是，上週發生了一件最不尋常的事情。
I was at a stop sign and I watched as you turned the corner in your car.
我站在停車標誌旁，看見您開著車要拐彎。
It didn’t immediately occur to me that it was you because the man driving looked so elderly and fragile behind the wheel of that huge car.
可是我並沒有立刻反應過來那是您，因為那個男人開著車，又在那部大車的車輪後面，就顯得他歲數很大，身體也很虛弱的樣子。
It was rather like a slap in the face delivered from out of nowhere.
也許，那是我第一次“看見”您的年齡。
Perhaps I saw your age for the first time that day.
可我卻感到，彷彿從哪飛來一記耳光重重地打在我臉上。
Or maybe I saw my own.
也許，只有我自己看見罷了。
Fifty years ago this spring we planted kohlrabi together in a garden in Charles City, Iowa.
五十年前的一個春天，我們在艾奧瓦州查爾斯市的一個花園一起栽下苤藍菜。
I didn’t know then that I would remember that day for the rest of my life.
當時我並不知道，我一輩子也不會忘記那一天。
This week, we’ll plant kohlrabi together again, perhaps for the last time but I hope not.
這一週，我們還要在一起栽苤藍菜，這是第二次，也許這是最後一次了，可我並不希望那樣。
I don’t understand why planting kohlrabi with you is so important to me but it is.
我不明白為什麼和您一起栽苤藍菜讓我感到很有意義，但對我來說實在是太重要了。
And the funny thing about it is, well, I don’t know quite how to tell you this, Dad...I don't even like kohlrabi... but I like planting it with you.
而且，有意思的地方是，我不知道該怎麼和您說這事，爸爸……我甚至不喜歡苤藍菜……但是，我卻喜歡和您一起栽苤藍菜的感覺。
I guess what I’m trying to say, Dad, is what every son and daughter wants to say to their Dad today.
爸爸，我想我要說的話，就是每個做兒女的今天想要和他們爸爸說的話。
Honoring a Father on Father’s Day is about more than a Dad who brings home a paycheck,shares a dinner table, and attends school functions, graduations, and weddings.
過“父親節”，尊重一位父親，決不僅僅是因為爸爸給家裡掙多少錢、和家人一起共進晚餐、參加學校活動、參加畢業典禮和婚禮的原因。
It isn’t even so much about kohlrabi, ‘54 Chevrolets, and fly-fishing.
也不止是一起栽苤藍菜、開雪佛蘭54車和飛蠅釣魚的事，
It’s more about unconditionally loving children who are snotty and stubborn, who know everything and won’t listen to anyone.
也不止是您無條件地愛那些流鼻涕又很淘氣，而且什麼都懂，就是不聽話的孩子。
It’s about respect and sharing and acceptance and tolerance and giving and taking.
這就是尊重對方、分享快樂、接納和寬容、給予和接受吧。
It’s about loving someone more than words can say，and it’s wishing that it never had to end.
愛一個人是言語表達不了的，希望這些永不終止，從未結束。
I love you, Dad.
我也愛您，爸爸。
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