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 chubby 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 complexion 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 bossy 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 forth 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 realization 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。