我娶了這個女人兩次

The happy couple, many years ago. I married the same woman twice. Once when I was 28, and then again at 33. I didn't have to marry her again; I wanted to.

多年前，我們也是一對幸福的小夫妻。我娶了這個女人兩次。第一次結婚我28歲，第二次33歲。不是我必須娶她，而是我想娶她。

The first time, we eloped to a small town along the coast of Maine. A very nice woman there, named Brenda - the town clerk as it happens - provided us with the necessary documents in order to be issued a marriage license. We completed them in the woman's presence and with her help. Afterward, she wished us well and said that, for a $5 fee, she would mail the license to our home in New York just as soon as it was ready. It would be ready, Brenda said, once the justice of the peace we'd hired to perform a seaside service forwarded to the town a document noting that she had, in fact, signed off on the nuptials.

對於第一段婚姻，我們私奔到緬因州沿海的一個小鎮。小鎮上有個叫布倫達的女人人超好--當時在鎮裏工作--給我們提供了辦理結婚證所需的文件。在她的幫助下，我們填完了所有內容。之後，她祝我們一切順遂，並說只要5美元的費用，她就能在結婚證辦好的時候儘快將其寄到我們紐約的家中。

Only Brenda never did get around to mailing us the license. And my wife and I never bothered to follow up. Our lives were full and very busy and little details like $5 documents just didn't rate high on the to-do list. Besides, no one had ever asked us to present our marriage license, for any reason. "One day, we'll track it down," was basically our position on the matter.

但是，布倫達卻沒有將結婚證寄給我們。而我和妻子也沒有在這件事上多做計較。我們的生活充實而又忙碌，5美元文件這樣的小事在待辦清單上並不起眼。而且，也沒有人讓我們出示結婚證。"有一天，我會好好追蹤這件事的，"這就是我們當時的態度。

Then, on the occasion of our fifth wedding anniversary, I got the idea to surprise my beloved by inserting the license into the card that I would give her, with the wooden gift that I had made for her. Around a month before the date, I dialed the Rockport town office in Maine and got none other than Brenda herself on the line. After I'd explained what I was after, she put me on hold to search for the documents, but was back on the line in no time flat with bad news - the application was tossed due to some misunderstandings.

之後，在我們5週年的紀念日上，我想要給親愛的老婆一個驚喜：在我給她的那張卡中插入結婚證，同時送給她一份我親手完成的木製禮物。紀念日前一個月，我給緬因州羅克波特市鎮辦公室打了電話，接電話的人正是布倫達。解釋我此舉的目的之後，她讓我稍等一會兒開始翻找文件，但很快又拿起電話告訴了我一個壞消息--由於一些誤解，當時的申請文件被扔掉了。

That night, I was forced to ruin the surprise I'd planned and ask my wife if she would marry me. Again. That was more than 20 years ago. We now live in a small town along the coast of Maine, very happy.

那天脕上，我準備的驚喜被破壞了，不得不再問一次老婆：你願意嫁給我嗎。那已經是20多年前的事了。現在，我們住在緬因州沿海的一個小鎮上，非常幸福。