只要身边有爱,生活就有希望

In the summer of my eleventh year the home I had grown up in burned to the ground in the middle of the night.

11岁的时候，我住的房子在半夜三更被烧成了灰烬，那里曾是我长大的地方。

Thankfully, my Mom, Dad, Nana, brothers, and I escaped along with our dogs.

幸运的是，我的爸爸、妈妈、奶奶、几个哥哥，还有我，包括我们养的几条狗，都逃了出来。

Yet, we had nothing but the night clothes we were sleeping in.

不过，除了穿着睡觉的一身睡衣，我们也一无所剩了。

I spent the rest of that night with friends of our family trying unsuccessfully to sleep in a bed in their attic .

我们借宿到了一个朋友家里，住在他们的阁楼上，那天的后半夜，我躺在床上辗转难眠。

I was too scared to doze off, though. I didn’t know what lay ahead for us.

我太害怕了，不敢睡着。我不知道在未来等待着我们的是怎样的命运。

The next day my Mom brought me a few t-shirts and pairs of jeans given to her by another friend.

第二天，我妈妈给我带回了几件T恤，还有几条裤子，这是她的另一个朋友送给她的。

One pair of them was too short and the other pair too long but I didn’t care. At least I had some clothes again.

其中一条牛仔裤非常短，另外一条又太长了，可是我并不在意。至少我又有衣服穿了。

Meanwhile my Dad had returned to blackened wreckage of our home to see what he could find.

与此同时，我爸爸回到房子里，在烧成黑炭的灰烬中寻找还有价值的东西。

The only thing he could save was my Mom’s wedding rings.

他找回的唯一的东西是妈妈的结婚戒指。

The plastic case she had put them in that night had melted around them and shielded them from the flames.

当晚他把一对结婚戒指放进塑料盒子里，盒子已经融化了，但它保护了这对戒指免受灼烧。

As the summer days wore on my Dad was able to rent us a dusty old house by the side of the road near where our old house had been.

夏日一天天过去，我爸爸凑足了钱，为我们租下了一桩灰尘遍地的老房子，就在大路边我们的旧家附近。

As we moved in I watched as family, friends and our community continued to donate all they could to help us get back on our feet.

我们搬进这所房子时，我环顾四周，家人、朋友、还有社区里的邻居们源源不断地倾其所有援助我们，帮助我们重振家园。

There was more clothes, furniture, food, money, and even some books for me to read.

我们又收到了新衣服、新家具、食物、钱，我甚至还收到了基本可以阅读的书。

Looking back now I am grateful for all we went through that Summer because it taught me so much about life, love, and people.

现在回忆那个时候，我对我们经历的一切心存感恩，因为它教会了我很多东西，有关人生，有关爱，还有人性。

It showed me that when you have nothing left but love, for the first time you see that love is enough.

这些苦难让我明白，当你一无所有，只剩下爱的时候，你会第一次发现，有爱就足够了。

May you always have “Enough” then for all the days of your life here.

愿你此生永远都有“足够”的爱相伴。