I grew up in Jamaica Plain, an urban community located on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts. In the 1940’s it was a wholesome, quaint little community. It was my home and I loved it there; back then I thought I would never leave. My best friend Rose and I used to collectively dream about raising a family of our own someday. We had it all planned out to live next door to one another.

我在牙买加平原长大,那是美国马萨诸塞州波士顿市郊的一个城镇。在20世纪40年代,那是个生气勃勃而又老式别致的小社区。那是我的家乡,我热爱的地方。那时,我以为自己永远不会离开。我最好的朋友罗斯和我常常一起梦想着有一天各自拥有自己的家庭。我们什么都计划好了,还想着以后要挨着住,做邻居。

Our dream remained alive through grade school, high school, and even beyond. Rose was my maid of honor when I got married in 1953 to the love of my life, Dick. Even then she joked that she was just one perfect guy short of being married, thus bringing us closer to our dream. Meanwhile, Dick aspired to be an officer in the Marines and I fully supported his ambitions. I realized that he might be stationed far away from Jamaica Plain, but I told him I would relocate and adjust. The idea of experiencing new places together seemed somewhat romantic to me.

我们的这一梦想历经小学、中学,甚至之后的岁月,从未变更。1953年当我嫁给我一生的挚爱——迪克时,罗斯是我的伴娘。那时,她甚至开玩笑说,她就差结婚了,要不就完美了——这样就可以离我们的梦想更近了。就在那时,迪克决心成为一名海军陆战队军官,而我则全力支持他的雄心壮志。我意识到,他可能会在牙买加平原以外很远的地方驻扎,不过我告诉他我可以重新安家并适应下来。和他一起体验新天地的生活,这想法对我来说有些浪漫。

So, in 1955 Dick was stationed in Alaska and we relocated. Rose was sad to see me leave, but wished me the best of luck. Rose and I remained in touch for a few years via periodic phone call but after awhile we lost track of one another. Back in the 1950’s it was a lot more difficult to stay in touch with someone over a long distance, especially if you were relocating every few years. There were no email addresses or transferable phone number and directory lookup services were mediocre at best.

于是,1955年迪克被安排驻扎在阿拉斯加时,我们搬家了。罗斯对我的离开感到很难过,但仍祝我好运。接下来的几年里,我们通过定期打电话来保持联络,但不久我们便失去了彼此的音讯。20世纪50年代那会,要想和远方的人保持联络并不太容易,特别是当你每隔几年就要搬家时。那时还没有电子邮箱或者搬家不换号的服务,姓名地址查询服务也不甚完善。

I thought of her several times over the years. Once in the mid 1960’s when I was visiting the Greater Boston area I tried to determine her whereabout but my search turned up empty-handed. Jamaica Plain had changed drastically in the 10 years I was gone. A pretty obvious shift in income demographics was affecting my old neighborhood. My family had moved out of the area, as did many of the people I used to know. Rose was nowhere to be found.