In 2004 ,when my daughter Becky was ten, she and my husband, Joe, were united in their desire for a dog. As for me, I shared none of their canine lust.
2004年，当我的女儿贝基十岁的时候，她和我的丈夫乔都想养只小狗。不过对于我来说，我没有养狗的想法。
“But why”, they pleaded. “Because I don’t have time to take care of a dog.” “But we’ll do it.” “Really? You’re going to walk the dog? Feed the dog? Bathe the dog?” “Yes, yes, and yes.”I don’t believe you .” “We will. We promise."
“但为什么”，他们恳求。“因为我没有时间照顾狗。”“但我们会去做的。”“真的吗？你们去遛狗？喂狗？给狗洗澡？”“是，是，是。”“我不相信你们。”“我们会的，我们保证。”
They didn’t. From day two (everyone wanted to walk the cute puppy that first day), neither thought to walk the dog. While I was slow to accept that I would be the one to keep thrack of her shots , to schedule her vet appointments, to feed and clean her, Misty knew this on day one. As she looked up at the ehree new humans in her life ( small, mediurn, and large), she calculated ,”The medium one is the sucker in the pack .”
他们并没有。从第二天开始（第一天每个人都想遛这只可爱的小狗），两人都不想遛狗。虽然我很难接受我成了那个给她打针、安排兽医预约、给她喂食和清洁的人，但米斯蒂在第一天就明白了。当她抬头看着她生活中的三个新人类（小、中、大）时，她盘算道：“中等那个是最好糊弄的！”
Quickly, she and I developed something very similar to a Vulcan mind meld. She’d look at me with those sad brown eyes of hers, beam her need , and then wait, trusting I would understand - which, strangely, I almost always did. In no time, she became my feet as I read, and splaying across my stomach as I watched television.
很快，她和我之间有了一种心有灵犀。她用带着悲伤的棕色眼睛看着我，表达她的需求，然后等待，相信我会理解——奇怪的是，我几乎总是如她所愿。很快，当我看书时，她绕在我的脚边，当我看电视时，她趴在我的肚子上。
Even so, part of me continued to resent walking duty. Joe and Becky had promised. Not fair , I’d balk silently as she and I walked. “Not fair,” I’ d loudly remind anyone within earshot upon our return home .
即便如此，我仍然对遛狗任务感到一些不满。乔和贝基答应过。不公平，我不太情愿地和她默默地走着。“不公平，”回到家里，我大声地说给每一个长耳朵的人。
Then one day - January 1, 2007, to be exact — my huband's doctor uttered an unthinkable word: leukemia.With that , I spent eight to ten hours a day with Joe ine the hopital, doing anything and everything I could to ease his discomfort . During those six months of hospitalizations, Becky, 12 at the time , adjusted to other adults being in the house when she returned from school. My work colleagues adjusted to my taking off at a moment's notice for medical emergencies. Every part of my life changed; no part of my old routine remained.
然后有一天，确切地说是2007年1月1日，我丈夫的医生说出了一个不可思议的词：白血病。于是，我每天花八到十个小时和乔待在医院，尽可能缓解他的不适。在住院的六个月里，当时12岁的贝基从学校回来后，适应了家里其他成年人的生活。我的同事们适应了我因医疗紧急情况而在接到通知后立即离开的情况。我生活的每一部分都发生了变化；我的老习惯一点也不剩了。
Save one: Misty still needed walking. At the beginning, when friends offered to take her through her paces, I declined because I knew they had their own households to deal with.
只保留了一个：米斯蒂还需要遛。一开始，当朋友们主动提出遛她时，我拒绝了，因为我知道他们有自己的家庭要处理。
As the months went by，I began to realize that I actually wanted to walk Misty. The walk in the morning before I headed to the hospital was a quiet, peaceful time to gather my thoughts or to just be before the day's medical drama unfolded. The evening walk was a time to shake off the day's upsets and let the worry tracks in my head go to white noise.
几个月过去了，我开始意识到我其实很想和米斯蒂一起散步。在我前往医院的早上，散步是一段安静的时间，可以集中我的思想，或者在一天的医疗戏剧上演之前调整自己。晚上散步则是摆脱一天的烦恼，让我心中的担忧暂时消失。
When serious illness visits your household, it's, not just your daily routine and your assumptions about the future that are no longer familiar. Pretty much everyone you acts differently.
当你的家人患上重病时，不再熟悉的不仅仅是你的日常生活和对未来的假设，几乎你对每个人的行为都不一样。
Not Misty. Take her for a walk, and she had no interest in Joe's blood counts or bone marrow test results. On the street or in the park, she had only one thing on her mind: squirrels! She Was so joyous that even on the worst days, she could make me smile. On a daily basis she reminded me that life goes on.
而米斯蒂不是。带她去散步，她对乔的血液检测结果或骨髓检测结果不感兴趣。在街上或公园里，她脑子里只有一件事：松鼠！她是如此的快乐，即使在最糟糕的日子里，她也能让我微笑。她每天都提醒我生活还在继续。
After Joe died in 2009, Misty slept on his pillow.
乔于2009年去世后，米斯蒂睡在他的枕头上。
I'm grateful一to a point. The truth is, after years of balking, I've come to enjoy my walks with Misty. As I watch her chase after a squirrel, throwing her whole being into the here-and-now of an exercise that has never once ended in victory, she reminds me, too, that no matter how harsh the present or unpredictable the future , there's almost always some measure of joy to be extracted from the moment.
我很感激一到了一定程度。事实是，经过多年的不情不愿，我开始喜欢和米斯蒂一起散步了。当我看着她追逐松鼠，全身心地投入到一场从未以胜利告终的运动中时，她在提醒我，无论眼前多么严酷，未来多么不可预测，我们也总能从当下找到些许的快乐。
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