雙語美文：我真的做到了

7 years ago, when I was 24,

七年前，我24歲的時候

my wife was killed in a horrible car accident,

我妻子在一場可怕的車禍中去世了

leaving me in complete shock and grief

我被拋入了劇烈的震驚與悲慟之中

I became a single father to our 2 kids

變成了兩個孩子的單親爸爸

at the time they were 1 and 3 years old.

那時他們一個只有1歲，一個只有3歲

I didn't have any post high school education

我只有一份小小的高中文憑

and was working as a construction worker.

職業是建築工人

Before my wife passed away,

在妻子去世前

we both worked full time

我們都有全職的工作

and were able to rent a small but nice house.

賺的錢還足以租下一件雖然小，卻很溫馨的公寓

But as a single working parent,

可是，成爲唯一賺錢養家的單親爸爸後

I could hardly make ends meet

我難以應付家裏的開支

and had to move in to a tiny apartment.

一家人不得不搬到一個逼仄的小公寓裏

That Christmas, when I didn't have enough money left over to get my kids the gifts they deserved,

那年的聖誕節，我拿不出足夠的錢去爲孩子們買他們應得的聖誕禮物，這時我才知道

I really knew I had to do something.

我知道，自己必須得做點什麼才行

I started taking college classes at night

我開始讀夜校研修大學學位

while working 2 jobs,

同時還做着兩份工作

and after five long years,

五年漫長的時間之後

I graduated with a BS in mechanical engineering

我終於獲得了機械工程專業的學士學位

and got a job making 6 figures.

還得到了 一份薪資6位數的工作

I bought a nice house with a huge yard for my kids to play in,

我買下了 一幢大房子，屋前還有一個寬闊的院子，可以讓孩子們玩耍

built them a treehouse,

我還給孩子們搭了一個樹屋

and have enough time off to spend plenty of time with them.

工作空餘的時間也很多，可以陪伴孩子們

Last week,

上星期

I took them on a camping trip in the mountains.

我帶着孩子們到山裏宿營

It's not until now

直到此時

that I really let myself believe that I actually did it.

我才得以確信，我真的做到了