“Pedal
faster, faster!” I yelled out, the moment I let go the bicycle seat. You forged ahead
down the slope with a glistening smile. “Whoa..haha..hahaha...”, you exclaimed
in sheer exhilaration. There I stood, proud and in admiration. I spent a few moments to
collect my thoughts. “Not bad for a five year old! He’ll
be all right.”, I murmured to myself.
A few years
have gone by, the five year old has grown up quite a bit under our watchful
eyes. Standing almost at eye-level with his mom, that boyish smile remains. Having
recently completed the Safe Sitter course, we felt it was time for the
youngster to take another step forward.
“You’re in
charge today, breakfast and lunch are ready, just heat up when you’re hungry.
Here are the phone numbers if you need to get hold of me or Baba.” A few words
from kids’ mom before she left for work. “OK”, the reply was short and
sweet.
Although I knew the boys could manage
just fine, I was still uneasy leaving them at home by themselves. As much as I wanted to call and make sure everything was OK, I didn’t pick up the phone.
I’m not a
clock watcher but I was this afternoon. Finally, it was time to head home! The
weather was gorgeous, maybe a little windy. I arrived home to see the boys
watching TV in the family room. “How was your day?”, I asked. “Good.”, a simple answer but boy, was I relieved! It may be a small step in your young life,
however, it’s a big leap toward independence.
Keep it up, son!
“踏快一點, 再快一點!”, 我鬆開捉緊腳踏車椅墊的手, 對著兒子喊著. 你自己騎著單車, 衝下小山丘,笑靨滿溢. “喔….哈哈…哈哈哈哈”, 你開懷的笑著. 望著你, 我並足而立, 驕傲中帶著欽佩. 我呆立的回想, “才五歲的他還真行, 我可以放心了!”, 我喃喃自語.
轉眼間, 已匆匆數年, 在我們呵護下, 那個五歲的小男孩已經長大許多. 個子已幾乎追上了媽媽的他, 仍保有那稚氣的笑容. 不久前, 他才上過安全保母的課程, 我們覺得, 是該讓他走邁出人生的另一步了.
“今天由你當家, 早,午餐已經準備好, 餓了只要熱一下就可以吃. 紙上有我跟爸爸的電話號碼, 需要的話, 就打給我們.” 孩子們的媽在上班前的叮囑. “好”, 哥哥短短的回答.
雖然我知道孩子們能自治, 但是讓他們自己留在家裡, 我還是有點不放心. 儘管一直想要打電話回家探個究竟, 我始終沒提起聽筒.
平常我很少盯著牆上的鐘, 但是今天例外. 好不容易, 終於熬到下班時間! 外面的天氣非常好, 雖然風大了些. 我回家時兄弟倆正在看電視, “今天還好吧?”, 我問著. “好”, 哥哥簡短的回覆. 我鬆了口氣, 也放下心中的一塊石頭! 對你來説, 這只是 你人生中踏出的一小步, 實際上, 你已經朝著獨立跨出一大步.
加油, 兒子!
