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4/7/2014
周末帶mimi去參加一個活動，等待的間隙她說要玩捉迷藏。看到她一本正經地趴在欄杆上數數，容我尋找藏身之處，我突然發現她的頭發已及腰甚至齊臀。又到該修剪的時候了。曾幾何時，mimi還頂著一頭彎彎曲曲的小卷毛，露著為數不多的小乳牙對著我甜笑。那一頭卷毛長度大概過耳齊肩，甚是柔軟。微風吹過，便在mimi胖胖的臉頰上畫著圈圈起舞，撓得我心癢癢的，忍不住要一親芳澤。一歲多以後，卷毛隨著頭發長度的增長而慢慢變直。自那以後，雖然定時修剪，mimi一直都保持著幾乎齊腰的長發。她的頭發濃密，所以這麽長的長度洗起來費時也耗力。上芭蕾課梳bun的時候也得多花時間才能將所有的頭發都盤進去。mimi跳了兩年芭蕾，我也早已練就為她梳bun的手藝。其實為mimi梳頭的過程對我而言是一種享受。每天她吃早飯的時候，我都為她編辮子。mimi光滑的發縷總是如絲緞般折射出柔和的微光。隨著她漸漸長大，為她梳辮子的手也越抬越高。梳起梳落，似水流年，編進去的不止是mimi的發絲還有光陰。這光陰定是施了魔法將背對著我的那個小胖娃娃變成了如今的小姑娘。而為mimi梳頭的我呢？人生一世，如白駒過隙，忽然而已。
4/13/2014
If Sunday night were a kid, he must be a mischievous one that likes to sneak up from behind my shoulders. I could almost hear the “boo!” And just like that, another weekend is ending.
Today is the last Sunday before Easter. Mimi and I continued our annual tradition of decorating Easter eggs together. I got the hard-boiled eggs ready first thing in the morning. The next step was to pour carefully measured proportions of vinegar and water into the Easter themed paper cups. Vinegar is required to fully dissolve the color tablets, which came in several bright shades. These tablets made soft bubbling sound as they gradually shrunk in size and eventually disappeared into the solution. Meanwhile Mimi and I put on our aprons, dipped the eggs into the solution, and the fun began.
The kit provided all sorts of cute "body parts", such as the googly eyes, the triangularly shaped nose for the chicks, the pink tongue for our jumpy friend froggy, and let’s not forget the cotton ball tail for the bunnies. I suppose one can also mix+match the various body parts and let your imagination run wild. Mimi particularly enjoyed drawing the eye lashes for her beloved purple tortoise. Perhaps it gave her the satisfaction of putting on “makeup” for these lovely creatures. For budding girls of Mimi's age, cosmetics of any form and shape probably offer an irresistible grown up appeal and this inherent gravitation towards beauty is something I cannot quite defy.
Mimi’s friend took home the pink and purple bunnies, so they were missing from the final "family portrait". I am sure they are now in very good hands, though they will be thoroughly missed by those that stayed behind. Aren’t these Easter eggs adorable? I like them all but the cotton-tailed bunnies hit a soft spot in my heart as they reminded me of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit. Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter. Such fond childhood memories.
4/20/2014
今晚去看了Mimi學校高中部學生演出的《悲慘世界》，還有幾個年幼的小演員來自小學部，非常可愛。很可惜Mimi突然發燒了，所以沒能好好欣賞大哥哥姐姐們的表演。這些孩子們無論唱功或是舞台表現力都出乎我意料的好，尤其是幾個主演。我很訝異這些還不諳世事的孩子們能把這個經典故事演繹得如此飽滿，充滿了張力。愛情，親情，貪婪，希望，悔恨，自我救贖，種種種種都娓娓道來。雖然《悲慘世界》已經看過好多回，裏麵的歌曲也早已熟記於心，今晚我依然沒忍住眼淚。孩子們的認真與投入讓他們看上去光芒四射，劇中人物也因而在他們身上獲得了重生。
4/21/2014
去年的複活節，我在威尼斯與她偶遇，一見傾心。威尼斯的小巷，幽靜深邃，縱橫交錯，稍不留神錯過一個轉彎便會置身於一條無名的小街，兜兜轉轉全沒了方向。可在威尼斯迷路是如此的美好 - 樸實的石橋，平常人家窗台上盛放的鮮花，做嘉年華麵具的小鋪子，這些鑲嵌在迷宮裏的小寶石若非迷路也許就無緣相見了。
那天從Frari Basilica 出來，Mimi因為倒時差靠在爸爸的肩膀熟睡，我們決定回住處休息。去船碼頭的路上，照例不小心走了岔路。就在尋尋覓覓的過程中，我看到了櫥窗裏的她。玲瓏剔透，精致小巧，將她的小角落映襯得春色無邊。想到Mimi醒來後看到她的驚喜，我忍不住推門進去。一股甜香撲鼻而來，提醒著我這家小店的主角本是那黑黝黝卻又讓人無法抗拒的巧克力。店家笑盈盈地將她包進盒子裏，再仔細封上店裏的金色標簽，這個複活節彩蛋就這樣漂洋過海地隨我們回了美國。
今天又是複活節，Mimi雖然生病，還是細細把玩了這個來自威尼斯的彩蛋。我不由想起了與這個彩蛋邂逅的小巷，以及石板路上爸爸抱著Mimi前行的幸福背影。一個小小的物件，往往能勾起無盡的回憶，那滿是馨香讓人忍不住回望的美好。
4/30/2014
這間Borders曾經是我最喜歡的書店之一。繁華的University Ave. 總是熙熙攘攘，可隻要閃身進了Borders 的天井，就仿佛將喧鬧連同暑氣擋在了門外。天井中的小噴泉總是快樂地噴灑著幾許涼意。走到底，推開那厚重的大門，便是滿堂書香。眼睛雖然有些應不暇接，心裏卻是安寧踏實的。不算明亮的燈光藏匿了大書店都無可避免的倉庫般的棱角; 光影下偶爾也能感受到街角小書店才有的溫馨。周末下午的時光在這裏就像是被上了發條，嘀嗒間便跑得無影無蹤。每次離開時即便懷中沒有新書，伸個懶腰，那份慵懶的滿足總是有的。
然而人是健忘而殘忍的動物。不知從什麽時候起，書店漸漸去得少了，因為買書成為了足不出戶就能完成的事情。網購雖有諸多好處，失去的卻是那種在購買前觸摸著新書隨意翻看的興奮。對一本書好壞與否的判斷也因為無法sample而要依賴留下網評的陌生人。人們對傳統書店的集體背叛讓書店舉步維艱，最終Borders在幾年前黯然退場。同樣的故事，多年前也曾上演。隻不過那時被逼得無以為生的是許多家庭式的小書店，取他們而代之的是Barnes & Noble 及 Borders這些大型聯鎖店。這才多少年的功夫，當年的勝利者之一也已成為了曆史。
周末在University Ave. 吃完午飯閑逛的時候經過了Borders 的舊址。偌大的店麵，如今還荒著，好不落寞。大門外的鐵鏈生生地拒人於千裏之外。看到回廊裏的落葉，過去種種湧上心頭，真有些傷感。我不敢想在網購書籍早已成為默認模式， 電子書籍也越來越普及的今天，書店的未來到底在哪裏。手不釋卷的對象若是從溫暖的書頁變成從冰冷代碼轉變而來的文字，那種原始的快樂便打了折扣。可也許這就是書不可逆的命運，經曆了從竹簡絲帛到紙張的華麗演變，最終卻要遁為無形。
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