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.

我在牙買加平原長大,那是美國馬薩諸塞州波士頓市郊的一個城鎮。在20世紀40年代,那是個生氣勃勃而又老式別致的小社區。那是我的家鄉,我熱愛的地方。那時,我以為自己永遠不會離開。我最好的朋友羅斯和我常常一起夢想著有一天各自擁有自己的家庭。我們什么都計劃好了,還想著以后要挨著住,做鄰居。

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.

我們的這一夢想歷經小學、中學,甚至之后的歲月,從未變更。1953年當我嫁給我一生的摯愛——迪克時,羅斯是我的伴娘。那時,她甚至開玩笑說,她就差結婚了,要不就完美了——這樣就可以離我們的夢想更近了。就在那時,迪克決心成為一名海軍陸戰隊軍官,而我則全力支持他的雄心壯志。我意識到,他可能會在牙買加平原以外很遠的地方駐扎,不過我告訴他我可以重新安家并適應下來。和他一起體驗新天地的生活,這想法對我來說有些浪漫。

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年迪克被安排駐扎在阿拉斯加時,我們搬家了。羅斯對我的離開感到很難過,但仍祝我好運。接下來的幾年里,我們通過定期打電話來保持聯絡,但不久我們便失去了彼此的音訊。20世紀50年代那會,要想和遠方的人保持聯絡并不太容易,特別是當你每隔幾年就要搬家時。那時還沒有電子郵箱或者搬家不換號的服務,姓名地址查詢服務也不甚完善。

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.