自从我读过美国作家Laura Ingalls Wilder的《草原上的小屋》丛书之后，我就一直憧憬着住在乡村。因为我喜欢住在有故事的家里，所以我希望拥有一座特别古老的房子。

2002年，我和我丈夫在北卡罗来纳州南部地区一条蜿蜒的道路上发现了这样一座房子。这座房子简直乱七八糟，它曾遭到正式住户的抛弃，又曾被非正式住户——人类或其他生物——所接管。歪斜的窗户、残缺的窗玻璃、阳光透过天花板倾泻而下，屋里甚至还有一棵穿破地板长出来的小树，不过，这些景象都没有打消我要买下这座破房子的念头。

四年来，我们全家——我丈夫和我们的两个小孩——齐上阵把这座破旧的农舍改造成了我们的家。

这房子冬天漏风，夏天炎热，而且各色昆虫、老鼠、蜥蜴和你能够想像到的最袖珍的青蛙——比我小指头的指甲大不了多少——都能钻到我们家，尽管如此，我们还是渐渐爱上了这个地方，把这里当成了我们的家——我们抚育孩子的家。无论是小鸡、山羊，还是西墙里的蜂窝，都成了家人，也成了全家人生经历的一部分。

在这里住了10年以后，我们得知新的工作可能要我们举家搬到距农场700英里以外的地方。我们心里明白，所有那些生物和乡村生活都会成为我们记忆宝库中的组成部分。

我们的新家面积更小，比旧家更新，也不怎么漏风，可是它却少了点独特性。如今，家里再也没有山羊和小鸡了，墙壁里也找不到蜜蜂的踪影，我们的家看起来跟别人的房子没什么区别。

还好，我们还有段段珍贵的往事，与美好的回忆，当然，还有那时的照片可供我们怀念旧家的美好时光。

-         供稿：Lisa C.，50岁. 旅行代理. 美国印第安纳州科科莫市.

What I learned from My Farmhouse

I had always wanted to live in the country—from the time I read LauraIngalls Wilder’s Little House book series. And because I love the idea ofliving in a home that has a story, I wanted a very old house.

In 2002 my husband and I found such a house on a curved road in thesouthern part of North Carolina. The house was a mess—having been abandoned byofficial occupants and taken over by unofficial ones—human and otherwise.Crooked windows with broken panes, daylight streaming through the ceiling, andeven a small tree growing up through the floor did not dissuade me fromoffering to buy this old wreck of a house.

For four years we—my husband and our two young children—worked as afamily to turn this broken-down farmhouse into our home.

In spite of being drafty in the winter, hot in the summer, and perviousto all sorts of insects, mice, lizards, and the tiniest little frogs you canimagine—no bigger than the size of my pinky nail—we grew to love the place asour home—the home where we raised our children. The chickens, goats, and honeybeehive in the west wall all became part of our family and part of our story.

When, after living there for 10 years, we learned that a new job wouldtake us 700 miles from our farm, we knew that all those creatures and thatcountry life would become part of our past. 

Our new home is smaller, much newer, much less drafty, and much lessextraordinary. And now, with no goats, no chickens, and no bees in the wall,our home seems to be like everyone else’s.

But we have memories and stories and, of course, photos.

-         Lisa C., 50. Travel Agent. Kokomo, Indiana.

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For more stories like this, visit: https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/education-culture/xin-jiao-liu-magazine/every-day-americans/