On Saturday, February 12 two thousand, two things happened that changed everything in my life. The first was that on this day my baby sister was married. She was twenty-six this day, and yet to me she was still my baby sister. I suppose that I pictured her as a little girl, and treated her like one in order to hold onto and preserve my own youth. Until I saw her in her wedding dress I still had a vision of her with chubby¹ little cheeks and long, dark-brown pigtails blowing in the wind, perhaps even a permanent smudge of chocolate around her pink lips. I guess it's true that you see only what you want to see. Where did this beautiful woman with the glowing complexion² and gentle curves come from?

2000年2月12日，星期六，那天发生的两件事改变了我的此后的生活。第一件是小妹妹那天结婚了。当时她已经26岁了，但对我来说，她还是我的小妹妹。我总是把她看作小女孩，也把她当一个小女孩来对待。我想这是因为我希望通过这种方式来永葆青春。直到看到她身着婚纱的那一刻，浮现在我脑海的还是那个小圆脸蛋，长长的褐色马尾巴在风中摆动的小女孩;也许还有一块巧克力总是粘在她那粉红色的嘴唇上。我想人总是看见自己想看的东西。眼前这位容光焕发、线条优美的女人是谁呢?

I was happy that day, and also sad. Gone were the days of me bossing her around and telling her what she should do with her life. My bossy³ behavior had earned me the nickname Lucy. If you are a Peanuts fan then you can clearly imagine my behavior as an older sister. To me it wasn't an insult; I rather like the nickname Lucy. I happen to think that Lucy is strong and has incredible self-confidence, although she is a little overbearing at times. I did my best to live up to the standards set forth⁴ by this dynamic cartoon character.

那天我既高兴又伤心。过去我对她呼来唤去，告诉她生活应该怎样过的日子已经一去不回了。因为独断蛮横我得到了露西这个外号。如果你也喜欢看《花生》这部动画片，那你一定可以想象我作为一个大姐姐的样子。我不觉得这个外号是一种侮辱，反倒很喜欢它。我有时还想，强大的露西自信得令人难以置信，虽然她有时也让人难以忍受。我努力向这个生气勃勃的卡通形象看齐。

I left the reception to get some air because suddenly I was overcome with grief at the realization⁵ that I was no longer a child. I went outside and walked to a nearby playground where there were children playing on the slide, the swings and digging in the dirt. There was a little girl twirling around on a bar, one knee wrapped tightly around the bar and fashioned behind her knee. It was all I could do to sit there and just watch, for I too wanted to get on that bar with her and see if I could still hold the all-time twirling record (ninety-nine times in fifth grade). Somewhere inside I knew that I would break my neck, and I was wearing a bridesmaid dress. Not exactly play ground material. And so I sat watching the children play. I'm not sure how long I sat there before my sister came and joined me. We talked about how we are grown up now and shed a few tears for our childhood days gone by. As she wiped a tear from my eye she lovingly said, "you'll always be Lucy to me." We hugged.

我离开了婚礼现场，到外面去呼吸些新鲜空气。我突然伤感不已，因为自己已经不再是个孩子了。我走到外面，来到附近的一个运动场边，小孩子正在那里玩滑梯、荡秋千、玩泥沙。有个小女孩正在一个杠上快速地转动，一条腿紧紧地勾在杠上。而我所能做的只是坐在那里看看，我也想跟她一起玩，看看能否再重现当年自己转圈的最高记录(五年级时一次达到99次)。但我很清楚，这样我可能会扭断脖子。再说我正穿着伴娘服，不适合运动。于是我只好坐在那里看孩子们玩耍。不知过了多久，妹妹来到我身边。我们谈起自己已经长大了，并为逝去的孩童时光流下了泪。她替我擦干眼泪，充满爱意地说：“你永远都是我的露西。” 我们拥抱在了一起。