| Wei,
our younger son, graduated from Oregon State University in June.
In August, Maki’s parents came from Japan to attend the their
daughter’s
marriage to our son, Wei. The wedding ceremony took place
on the Willamette Queen wheeler, followed by a joint reception
with Hong and Sandy. Wei is now a graphics designer at Willamette
University (WU). WU was the
first entity I knew fourteen years ago when I set foot on
this land. Almost everything intrigued me. There was the cozy
Hatfield Library where I could sit on a sofa and stare, behind
the French windows, at the serene brook running across the campus.
There were Smullin Hall labs in which I could always find a computer,
no matter how late. When I saw the Apple/IIe in Carol Long’s
office, I adored it. When Michael Strelow showed me his laptop
with two 720k floppy drives to load the whole WordPerfect 4.2
program and spelling-checker into memory, I was utterly spellbound.
That winter, the brook was frozen. Some ducks were snatched away
by animals of the prey. The campus was in a roar. Collegian
reported it and a staff member took the rest of the ducks home
to shelter them. My heart was deeply touched. Every life was respected
and treasured here, even that of a duck! This surely was the land
to be.
Fred Meyer's sheer size of "one
stop shopping" impressed me so much that I wished Li-qing
could come to see for herself, and perhaps Hong and Wei too. We
would be also going to Lancaster Mall, by bike, and stay one whole
day there. That was 1988. Li-qing joined me the
last day of 1990, Wei
August 1991, and Hong
November 1992. Li-qing started her catering job at WU the
second week after she came to America. Although she had a tough
time distinguishing pitcher from picture, she easily
won friends and friendship at WU. Hong went to audit classes at
WU, also on the second week after his arrival. He completed his
undergraduate and graduate courses within five years, and got
his MBA from Atkinson in 1997. He and Sandy are living with
us, and in the coming March, they will give us a grandson!
I still have my computer job with
the school district, but am missing more and more of my life and
career left behind in China. As soon as we can afford a modest
retirement, Li-qing and I will probably move back. Like bad weather,
China had given us a lot of pain, but also a lot to remember by,
as stated in my essay below.
Yannan, December 2002
|
转眼间，人过六十，来美也有十四年了。梦醒时或寂静处，往事总历历在目。还记起五六岁时爸爸带我去乡间的小河里学游泳，用一条绳子栓在我腰间，扑通、扑通学狗爬。读小学四年级时，爸爸从香港寄来一些舶来品。有可以连打火药的玩具手枪，后来被人骗去了。还有橡胶雨衣，下雨天穿到学校去，在同学们的怂恿下，站在屋梁下任雨冲。1949年解放，爸爸成了“新中国的奠基石”，扔下了妈妈、弟弟和我。一块三寸宽八寸长的暗红色的“烈属光荣”的木牌子， 见证了我们一家三口的长年的无人、无钱、和无助的悲哀。当然，不是完全无助。政府曾发了抚恤金二十担谷子。我上中学时有一度拿到最高的每月九块一毛的助学金。而且，我们有永远可以去的外婆家。那是些众人皆穷的日子，但亲情、友情、人情总是有的。回顾这漫长的贫困交加的过去，心里深深地感怀曾经给过我们温暖和帮助的每一个人。可惜的是，当我知道感恩，有力报恩时，有不少恩人已经辞世了。
没有了父亲，并不是就没有生活，没有理想。只不过生活实在艰辛，而理想渐趋平凡吧。小学时写作文说过要当飞行员。初中时羡慕妈妈工作单位（税务局）的通讯员，因为他白天可以骑自行车去送公文，晚上可以在汽灯下打乒乓球。1988年10月我来到美国，先是惊叹电脑的神奇，心里希望以后也可以买一个”苹果II“
(Apple/IIe)
机给孩子用。然后希望有朝一天妻子和孩子可以来美国，我们就可以一人骑一辆脚车，到
Mall （大商场）里玩一天。今年夏天本来是计划要回国一趟的，结果裁员风紧，无心游玩。来美十四年，乐不思蜀，每每为资本主义唱赞美歌，现在开始思念亲人老友、神州大地，双双（丽卿和我）叨念着退休后要回去了。
暑假间裁员风起时，觉得应多学一门技术，就给自己设了一个网页:
https://yannanus.net.
因此，我们今年要汇报的大事，我的网页上已经有了。大儿子庄宏和儿媳秀娟跟我们住在一起。明年三月会有弄璋之喜，就更热闹了。今年6月16日，我们的小儿子庄伟从俄勒冈州立大学(OSU)毕业了，并有幸在两个月后在威拉姆特大学(Willamette
University) 找到对口的工作。8月11日，庄伟和麻纪子在一条游艇上举行结婚仪式，然后和庄宏秀娟设宴招待来宾。庄伟和麻纪子的结婚仪式属补办性质，因为他们已经于去年七月份在日本登记结婚了。庄宏和秀娟则于2000年10月在我们的教堂举行了婚礼，只是还没正式请过客。也是我们第一次跟日本的亲家亲家母见面。见面前，知道日本人重礼节，已经有了思想准备。不料他们没说几句，突然双膝跪下，把头伏到地板上。我们也忙不迭地跪下还礼。语言不通，靠麻纪子翻译。才知道他们这是郑重把女儿交给我们，并感谢我们善待他们的女儿。其实，要感谢的是我们，感谢他们给了我们一个好女儿。勤劳勤快、吃苦耐劳，两个民族的好品德好品质她都有了。感激，感激前些日子，在建立我的个人网页时，找到以下这段有关感激的回忆，并补写了一段英文。就以此来作为今年这封圣诞贺信的结尾，并让你们知道我们对你们的寄思。
燕南上
2002年
12月1日
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