I “Heard” the Love

    When I was growing up I do not recall hearing the words “I love you” from my father. When your father never says them to you when you are a child， it gets tougher and tougher for him to say those words as he gets older. To tell the truth， I could not honestly remember when I had last said those words to him either. I decided to set my ego aside and make the first move. After some hesitation， in our next phone conversation I blurted out the words， “Dad… I love you！”

    There was a silence at the other end and he awkwardly replied， “Well， same back at ya！”

    I chuckled and said， “Dad， I know you love me， and when you are ready， I know you will say what you want to say.”

    Fifteen minutes later my mother called and nervously asked， “Paul， is everything okay？”

    A few weeks later， Dad concluded our phone conversation with the words， “Paul， I love you.” I was at work during this conversation and the tears were rolling down my cheeks as I finally “heard” the love. As we both sat there in tears we realized that this special moment had taken our father/son relationship to a new level.

    A short while after this special moment， my father narrowly escaped death following heart surgery. Many times since， I have pondered the thought， if I did not take the first step and Dad did not survive the surgery， I would have never “heard” the love.

    隨著我逐漸長大，我不記得爸爸對我說過“我愛你”。如果從孩提時(shí)候起，爸爸就從來沒對你說過“我愛你”，那么隨著他年齡的增長，就會(huì)愈來愈難張口。實(shí)話說吧，我也實(shí)在記不起來上次什么時(shí)候?qū)λ�說過那些話。我決定放開自尊，采取主動(dòng)。猶豫了一陣后，在下次打電話時(shí)我突然說出了這些話：“爸爸……我愛你！”

    電話的那端沉默了一陣，然后他有些害羞地說：“呃，我也愛你！”

    我輕聲地笑了起來，說：“爸爸，我知道你愛我，我知道當(dāng)你準(zhǔn)備好時(shí)，你就會(huì)把想說的話告訴我。”

    一刻鐘后，媽媽打電話過來，有些緊張地問：“保羅，一切都好嗎？”

    幾個(gè)星期過后，爸爸在掛電話前說了句“保羅，我愛你。”打電話的時(shí)候我還在上班，在終于“聽”到愛的聲音后，我的淚水順著臉頰流了下來。由于我們兩人都坐在那兒淚流滿面，我們知道這特別的時(shí)刻使我們的父子關(guān)系達(dá)到一種新境界。

    這個(gè)特別時(shí)刻剛過不久，爸爸就進(jìn)行了心臟手術(shù)，不過幸免于難。從那以后，我時(shí)常仔細(xì)回味，如果我沒有走出第一步，如果爸爸的手術(shù)沒有成功，我就再?zèng)]有機(jī)會(huì)聽到愛的聲音了。