OWNED BY PARROT01

I have been trying to write this for a while, but the morphine and lack of juicy cheeseburgers (what has it been now, five weeks without real food?) have drained my energy and interfered with whatever prose prowess remains. Additionally, the intermittent micronaps that keep whisking me away midsentence are clearly not propelling my work forward as quickly as I would like. But they are, admittedly, a bit of trippy fun.

一段时间以来，我一直想写这篇文章，但吗啡加上美味的奶酪汉堡的缺失（现在已经五周没吃真正的食物了吧？）导致我精疲力尽，并且影响了我仅存的文字能力。另外，间歇性的打盹常常让我在语句写到一半时停下来，它们显然没有像我希望的那样迅速地推进我的工作，不过倒也的确算是一种迷迷糊糊的小快乐。

Still, I have to stick with it, because I’m facing a deadline, in this case, a pressing one. I need to say this (and say it right) while I have a) your attention, and b) a pulse.

但我必须坚持，因为我面临一个最后期限，而且这一次的最后期限颇为紧张。我必须趁自己还 a）有你们的关注并且 b）有脉搏时，把这些话说出来（还要准确地说出来）。

I have been married to the most extraordinary man for 26 years. I was planning on at least another 26 together.

我和这个最特别的男人已经结婚26年了。我本来打算和他再一起生活至少26年。

Want to hear a sick joke? A husband and wife walk into the emergency room in the late evening on Sept. 5, 2015. A few hours and tests later, the doctor clarifies that the unusual pain the wife is feeling on her right side isn’t the no-biggie appendicitis they suspected but rather ovarian cancer.

想听个倒胃口的笑话吗？一对夫妇在2015年9月5日的深夜走进急诊室。几个小时过去了，在进行了一些检查后，医生明确表示，妻子右半边身体感觉到的剧痛不是他们所以为的没什么大不了的阑尾炎，而是卵巢癌。

No wonder the word cancer and cancel look so similar.

难怪 cancer（癌症）这个词和 cancel（取消）看上去这么相像。

This is when we entered what I came to think of as Plan “Be,” existing only in the present. As for the future, allow me to introduce you to the gentleman of this article, Jason Brian Rosenthal.

这时，我们开始活在当下，我把它当作 Be 计划（Plan Be）。至于未来，请允许我向你介绍本文的主人公贾森·布莱恩·罗森塔尔（Jason Brian Rosenthal）。

He is an easy man to fall in love with. I did it in one day.

他是一个容易让人爱上的人。我就是在一天时间里爱上他的。

Let me explain: My father’s best friend since summer camp, “Uncle” John, had known Jason and me separately our whole lives, but Jason and I had never met. I went to college out east and took my first job in California. When I moved back home to Chicago, John — who thought Jason and I were perfect for each other — set us up on a blind date.

我解释一下吧：我父亲从夏令营时代开始的挚友约翰叔叔是分别看着我和贾森长大的，但我和贾森从没见过面。我在东部上的大学，并在加州找到了自己的第一份工作。当我搬回芝加哥时，认为我和贾森是绝配的约翰给我们安排了一次相亲。

It was 1989. We were only 24. I had precisely zero expectations about this going anywhere. But when he knocked on the door of my little frame house, I thought, “Uh-oh, there is something highly likable about this person.”

那是1989年。我们都只有24岁。我本来对事情会怎么发展没抱任何期望。但当他敲响我的小木板房的门时，我想，“哇哦，这个人有一种非常讨人喜欢的东西。”

By the end of dinner, I knew I wanted to marry him.

到晚餐结束时，我知道自己想嫁给他。

Jason? He knew a year later.

贾森呢？他是一年后知道的

I have never been on Tinder, Bumble or eHarmony, but I’m going to create a general profile for Jason right here, based on my experience of coexisting in the same house with him for, like, 9,490 days.

我从来没用过 Tinder、Bumble 或 eHarmony（均为社交交友平台——译注），但我要在这里根据和他在同一屋檐下生活了大概9490天的经历，给贾森创建一份概括性的个人简介。

First, the basics: He is 5-foot-10, 160 pounds, with salt-and-pepper hair and hazel eyes.

首先，基本信息如下：身高5英尺10英寸（约合178cm）、体重160磅（约合73公斤）、头发花白、眼睛淡褐色。

The following list of attributes is in no particular order because everything feels important to me in some way.

接下来要列出的特点没有特定的顺序，因为在某种程度上，每个特点对我来说都很重要。

He is a sharp dresser. Our young adult sons, Justin and Miles, often borrow his clothes. Those who know him — or just happen to glance down at the gap between his dress slacks and dress shoes — know that he has a flair for fabulous socks. He is fit and enjoys keeping in shape.

他衣着入时。我们年轻但已成年的儿子贾斯汀（Justin）和迈尔斯（Miles）经常借他的衣服穿。认识他的人——或仅仅是恰好向下瞥见了他礼服裤子与鞋子之间的那个间隙的人——知道，他在袜子的搭配上天赋惊人。他身体健康，且喜欢保持体型。

If our home could speak, it would add that Jason is uncannily handy. On the subject of food — man, can he cook. After a long day, there is no sweeter joy than seeing him walk in the door, plop a grocery bag down on the counter, and woo me with olives and some yummy cheese he has procured before he gets to work on the evening’s meal.

如果我们的家会说话，它会补充一点，贾森非比寻常地心灵手巧。说到饮食这个话题——天哪，他太会做饭了。结束漫长的一天后，没有比看着他走进门、啪嗒一声把装着食品杂货的袋子放在柜子上、用买到的油橄榄或一些美味的奶酪讨好我然后再开始准备晚饭更甜蜜的快乐。

Jason loves listening to live music; it’s our favorite thing to do together. I should also add that our 19-year-old daughter, Paris, would rather go to a concert with him than anyone else.

贾森喜欢听现场音乐，这是我们最喜欢一起做的事。我还应该补充一点，我们19岁的女儿帕里斯（Paris）宁愿和他而不是其他任何人去听音乐会。

When I was working on my first memoir, I kept circling sections my editor wanted me to expand upon. She would say, “I’d like to see more of this character.”

写第一部回忆录时，我总是用笔把编辑想让我扩充内容的章节圈出来。她会说，“我想看到更多和这个角色有关的内容。”

Of course, I would agree — he was indeed a captivating character. But it was funny because she could have just said: “Jason. Let’s add more about Jason.”

当然， 我同意。他的确是一个吸引人的角色。但有意思的是，她本来可以直接说：“贾森。咱们再补充一些和贾森有关的内容吧。”

He is an absolutely wonderful father. Ask anyone. See that guy on the corner? Go ahead and ask him; he’ll tell you. Jason is compassionate — and he can flip a pancake.

他是一位非常优秀的父亲。你可以问任何人。看到拐角处的那个人了吗。去问他吧，他会告诉你的。贾森富有同情心，而且还会掂锅，让煎饼翻面。

Jason paints. I love his artwork. I would call him an artist except for the law degree that keeps him at his downtown office most days from 9 to 5. Or at least it did before I got sick.

贾森会画画。我喜欢他的画。要不是因为有法律学位，我会叫他画家。他的法律学位让他大部分时候，或者至少是在我生病前要在市中心的办公室从上午9点待到下午5点。

If you’re looking for a dreamy, let’s-go-for-it travel companion, Jason is your man. He also has an affinity for tiny things: taster spoons, little jars, a mini-sculpture of a couple sitting on a bench, which he presented to me as a reminder of how our family began.

如果你在找一个不瞻前顾后、愿意说走就走的人结伴旅行，贾森就是你要找的人。他还喜欢小物件：小勺子、小罐子、一对夫妇坐在一条长凳上的迷你雕塑。他把那尊雕塑拿给我是为了提醒我，我们的家庭是怎么开始的。

Here is the kind of man Jason is: He showed up at our first pregnancy ultrasound with flowers. This is a man who, because he is always up early, surprises me every Sunday morning by making some kind of oddball smiley face out of items near the coffeepot: a spoon, a mug, a banana.

贾森是这样一种人：他手捧献花出现在我们第一次做孕期超声波检查的地方。因为一向早起，他会在每个周日的早上用咖啡壶旁边的物品，比如勺子、马克杯、香蕉摆出某种奇怪的笑脸，来给我惊喜。

This is a man who emerges from the minimart or gas station and says, “Give me your palm.” And, voila, a colorful gumball appears. (He knows I love all the flavors but white.)

这个男人会从小商店或加油站出来，说：“摊开手掌。”然后，哇！缤纷的球状口香糖从天而降（他知道哪种口味我都喜欢，除了白色的。）

My guess is you know enough about him now. So let’s swipe right.

我猜你现在对他有了足够多的了解。那么我们就“向右拖曳”吧。

Wait. Did I mention that he is incredibly handsome? I’m going to miss looking at that face of his.

等等。我有没有提到他非常帅？我会想念凝视他的脸庞的感觉。

memoir (written entirely before my diagnosis), I invited readers to send in suggestions for matching tattoos, the idea being that author and reader would be bonded by ink.

如果觉得他像是一位王子，我们的爱情像是一个童话，倒也不算太离谱，只要略去两个玩了25年过家家的人所有的日常生活。还有就是我患癌的部分。呸。

I am wrapping this up on Valentine’s Day, and the most genuine, non-vase-oriented gift I can hope for is that the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins.

我是在情人节那天写完这篇文字的，而我希望得到的鲜花以外真正的礼物便是，一个对的人能读到它，找到贾森，开始另一段爱情故事。

I’ll leave this intentional empty space below as a way of giving you two the fresh start you deserve.

我会刻意把底下的空间留白，为你们奉上你们应得的新的开始。