文/康伟发
家中的老二当新郎了，但比起老大，我们更舍不得他长大，而且在他婚礼的那天，我们越看他越还像是个孩子。
老大念大学的四年时间里，因学校在本市，为节省开支，吃住都在家中。那时我们工作紧张，在每天晚上都督促老大关掉计算机睡觉，早上三番四次从被窝拉他起床上学，正所谓百上加斤。所以我们都盼着孩子早日完成学业，找份好工作，成了家，便可以换上哪一位走运的儿媳为他操心。
而这个老二，却是个很自立的孩子，从小便要自己洗浴，睡觉；这孩子连走路也不用学。那天在地上爬着爬着，自己就试着站起来，踉跄了几步，便开始迈出他人生的第一步。
还未到两岁，这老二已懂得在车上为你认路，无论你开车到一个怎样陌生的地方，他都有办法记住路，带着他，我从来不用担心翻地图，但不明白他到底是怎样做到的。
到上学前班的年龄了，老二对学校的兴趣比我们想象的要浓得多。第一天上课，父母是可以陪在教室里的，看着一大群外国小朋友，我们都为老二担心。因为在家里我们是说中文的，他一句英语都不慬，怎样和别的孩子打交道？
学前班的老师是位极和蔼可亲的中年女子，上课时坐在一张有靠背的小椅子上，男女孩子在她前面围了个半圆，都坐地上。老师随手从旁边堆放着的毛公仔中捡起一个，问孩子们，这是什么？孩子们七嘴八舌抢着回答，老师举起右手，示意他们先举手后发言，然后提问了第一个举手的小孩。小孩站起来回答：＂Poppy＂（小狗），跟着，老师拿起另一个毛公仔，还末开口，一个男孩已把手举起，我瞧那小男孩，竟是我家的老二。只见他从地上跃起，毫不犹如地说＂Poppy＂，虽然他的英文发音准确得让我惊讶，但可惜老师这次拿起的是小猫而不是小狗。小朋友们都笑了，老师没笑，用另一只手拿起小狗，说＂This is a poppy＂，然后再一次举起小猫，说＂This is a kitten＂。
回家后，老二好像心里在捉摸着什么。吃饭的时候，老二举起手中的筷子，自言自语地说：＂This is a 筷子＂，然后又拿起一个叉，说：＂This is a 叉＂；接着，好像有所顿悟，指着饭桌旁边的收音机，对我们说：＂This is a 愁吟基＂，老二把收音机说成＂愁吟基＂，我们笑到喷饭，但老二还是一副正儿八经的样子，坚持着把周围的物件用他的＂This is a...＂句式都说一遍。
可能也是凭着他的那点自信和创意，老二上小学一年班的第二个月，便通过了一个面试，被送到另一所学校的＂天才班＂学习，一直到念完高中。
高中毕业，老二选择去硅谷上大学，虽然说离家也不外是两个小时的车程，在送他上大学的那天，做母亲的还是抱着儿子痛痛快快地哭了一场，像别人女儿出阁那样。事实上，硅谷就是一块磁石，年轻人一旦被它吸引上，就注定要在那里过上这辈子。心里舍不得，但我们对这老二还是很放心的，对他，我们从来没操过太多的心，为此不多不少还带着为人父母的内疚。
由于我们对孩子的期望从来不会很高，老二的表现也一直能超出我们的期望。念大学的几年里，老二从未间断过工作，凭着他的工作经历，毕业后见工也很顺利。我们早就明白，老二去了硅谷念书，一定离不开那磁石，那里一定会成为他新的家，但只要一天他未做新郎，他就还是那个把小猫说成小狗的孩子。
天下没有不希望孩子快点长大成家的父母，但当这一天真正的到来了，除了给孩子送上最美好的祝愿之外，留给自己的，却只能是对孩子童年的那剪不断，理还乱的记忆。
The second groom in our family
Our second son was married recently, indeed, we did not want him to grow up so quick, and he still looked like a child at the date of his wedding.
We have two sons, the eldest one was spending his four years college in the city which we were living, so that he lived with us during those days. At that time, my wife and I had to work hard for living, but still needed to watch this kid very closely for everything, such as sleeping at night and got up for school in the morning; he never followed the right schedule at all. In this case, we all look forward to the early completion of his school, then, find a good job and marry a lucky girl who would teach him in other way.
Our second son was ten years younger than his brother, however, he was a very self-reliant child. From the beginning of the sensible, he took his own bath, ate and sleep by himself. There were Interest, this kid did not have to learn to walk; we remember one day, when he was climbed on the floor, he was wonder and tried to stand up, he stumbled for a few steps, and began to walk the way of his life.
Before our second son was one year old, he had been able to figure out the way for you when you were driving. No matter where you were driving, and how strange place was, he had a way to remember how to go back. With him, I never had to worry about using the map, even though I did understand how he made it.
The first day we took our second one to pre-school, he was much happier than we thought. All parents of the young student, they all gather in the classroom and watch their children’s behavior as much as they could. I was looking at a large group of foreign children, I worried about our second, because we only spook Chinese at home, and he did not even know a word in English, how could he communicate with teacher and other children?
The teacher in the pre-school class was a middle-aged western woman, she sat in a small chair with a back in front of the class room; boys and girls sat on the floor half-way in front of her. Teacher picked one of the stuffed dolls in the pile by the side, asking children what it was. Children struggling to give answered until teacher raised her right hand to show them a demonstration for classroom speaking. One of the boys stood up and answered: “This is a Poppy”.
Followed, teacher then picked another doll, just before the her asking, a boy already raised his right hand. I turned my eyes to that boy; he was our second!
Teacher let our second stand up and asked what the doll was, ＂Poppy＂our second answered. I was so surprise，his pronunciation was so perfect, but unfortunately, it was not a 'Poppy', the doll on the teacher’ s hand was ＂Kitten ＂at this time.
Children laughed, but the teacher did not, her picked up a ＂Poppy＂with her other hand and said 'This is a poppy'，then once again raised the first one，said 'This is a kitten.'
When he came home, our second seemed to be looking for something in his heart. When eating dinner, our second raised up the chop stick and said to himself, 'This is a Kuaizi,' and then picked up a fork and said, 'This is a Cha'. Then, our second seemed to be a little disillusioned, pointing to the radio receiver at the table and told us, 'This is a Shou Yin Ji'. He might mean that what we were talking about in the school of the day was a little misguided.
We all laughed at him, but the second was still insist to use his new discovery to name everything he saw around him.
Perhaps it was also a certificate of his confidence and creativity, the second month of our boy’s primary school, he passed a test and was sent to was named 'Genius Class' in another school until he finished high school.
After graduated of high school, our second chose to go to Silicon Valley for his university. Although the driving from our home to Silicon Valley was only two hours, but on the day, he was leaving home, the mother and son were crying together again and again.
As a matter of fact, Silicon Valley is a magnet, once young people are attracted to it, they will have to put it there. We did not really like it happen, but we were very proud of our second, we had never worried too much about him, and for that we still had much to do with the guilt of being parents.
Since our expectations on our children were never being too high, the second had always been able to exceed our expectations. In the past few years of university, the second had never stopped working. He had been certified as a graduate of his work, and he had been able to meet his job very successfully after graduation.
We all knew for a long time that when the second went to Silicon Valley to study, he could not get rid of the magnet, which would certainly be his new home, but before he become a groom, he was still the little boy who pointed the＂Kitten＂but named a ＂Puppy＂.
There are no parents in the world who do not want their children to grow up and have their own family, but when the day comes, apart from sending the best wishes to the child, what was left for parents could only be the memory of the their childhood.
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