去年父親節我還在電話裏和雅可夫爭論父親節的過法，而今天他已經離世近一年了。。。。
雅可夫是我博士導師朱思福的死黨。兩人在野路大學相遇後，工作找在一起， 實驗室相鄰。雖然一個做病毒， 一個做免疫，可實驗室周會一起開，文章一起發。 於我們這些學生， 同時聽兩個領域的發言， 即開闊了眼界，每人似乎又多了一個導師，多了一個指路人。
和大多數PI （principle investigator）不同，雅可夫喜歡自己做實驗，尤其做動物實驗。他常掛在嘴邊的是“我不信任你們這些孩子(I don’t trust you kids).” 早晨開工後， 常見他穿著白大衣， 拿著實驗工具，先跑到朱思福辦公室聊會天， 再和我們這些學生開幾句玩笑， 然後心滿意足哼著小曲，帶著學生去做動物試驗。他熱愛爵士樂， 他的實驗室常飄著他的最新爵士樂收藏。朱思福的學生最愛幹的事是實驗空隙跑到他的實驗室聽音樂， 侃大山， 不光喜歡聽他眉飛色舞講免疫學史， 免疫界名人軼事， 也聊美食， 聊他的兩個孩子，聊我們這些學生裏誰又交了男朋友。。。。他的實驗室儼然是我們“kids”的樂土。
受雅可夫的影響，病毒學專業畢業的我卻要找免疫學的博士後。無知者無畏，不知天高地厚的我找博士後不光跳專業，而且瞎貓碰死耗子， 找到野路大學一個人才濟濟的實驗室。還記得剛開始做博士後時一無所知，全身都是壓力的日子，想起來仿佛那時的天空都是暗的。那段日子最大的亮點是雅可夫的來訪。 雅可夫到野路免疫係元老實驗室要細胞株， 順便來看我。還記得在野路看到雅可夫我發自心底的那份高興， 即像是久別又見家人， 又像走在沙漠中的人突然看到水源，興奮不已。帶他去吃我的最愛，一個台灣餐車賣的蓋澆飯，和他吃飯聊天，哈哈大笑。他帶給我那段日子裏難得的高興。雅可夫走後又打電話來鼓勵我堅持不放棄，艱難的日子總會過去。。。。。。。。。。
去年初夏，雅可夫夫人娜米打電話說雅可夫被診斷腦膜瘤， 請我們幫忙再看看MRI片子。先生看後說做手術預後很好，問題不大。 術前和娜米通話談雅可夫的狀況。娜米問我要不要和雅可夫說話，我擔心我言語不當，給雅可夫徒增術前壓力， 便說術後再問候他。誰想這個通話機會我永遠失去了。。。。。。。。
想念雅可夫，想念他的微笑，想念他聽著音樂在無菌倉做實驗的樣子， 想念他學北京腔叫我名字的聲音。。。我想他現在住在每一個當年那些“kids”的心中。是他讓我懂得“passion”的含義。
想念你， Yacov！！！ Last year father’s day, I was still on the phone arguing with Yacov what is the best way to celebrate father’s day, today he had passed away for almost a year …….. Yacov is a close friend of my PhD advisor Joe. They met at Yale, found job at the same university, and set up lab next to each other. Although one works on virology, the other worked on immunology, they run lab meeting together, publish paper together. To us students, we got to hear views from two different fields, not only widened our views, but also everybody seems getting two advisors looking over and helping setting future directions. Unlike most PI (principle investigator), Yacov loves to do experiment himself, especially animal experiments. He always liked to say “ I don’t trust you kids.” Every morning, having his lab coat on, before going to do mouse experiments, he would stop by at Joe’s office chat a little, joking around with students in the lab a bit, then with the satisfied smile on his face, goes to the mouse room for animal experiments. He loves Jazz, and the music of his newest Jazz collection always comes out from his lab. Joe’s student loves to stopby at his lab during the interval of experiments. Not only for good music, but also hangout with Yacov, hearing his stories about famous people in the immunology fields, chatting about good food, new potential boyfriend candidates for the girls in the lab, and his two kids….. His lab is our favorite hangout. Under Yacov’s influence, although I was majored in virology for Ph.D, I looked in the immunology field for postdoc. There is this old saying in Chinese “ people don’t have knowledge don’t have fear.” It is very true in my case. Armed with little knowledge in immunology, I found myself settling in a top tier immunology lab for postdoc. Those were hard days and every muscle in my body seems under pressure. The happiest memory of those days was Yacov’s visit. He came to pickup some cell line from one of the lab and stopped by to see me. I was so happy, it felt like seeing the family after a long time or someone walking in the desert suddenly sees water. I took him to try my favorite food stand on Cedar street, chatting and laughting. He brought me true happiness I haven’t felt for a long time in a pressured environment. After the visit, Yacov called me encouraging me to persist…. Last summer, Nomi called and said Yacov was diagnosed with meningioma asking Xin to read the MRI. After reading the film, Xin said the prognosis is pretty good with surgery. Before the surgery, I talked with Nomi learning Yacov’s condition. Nomi asked me whether I wanted to talk to Yacov, I was worried that I might inadvertently gave him pressure before the surgery, so I told Nomi I will talk to him after the surgery. Unexpectedly, the opportunity to talk to him is forever gone………… Missing Yacov, I miss his smile, miss watching him doing experiments under the hood with the music on, miss hearing him mimicking the Peking accent calling my name…………. I believe now he lives in the heart of all those “kids” he worked, joked with. He helped me understand the meaning of “passion”. Missing you, Yacov!!!
