my day began on a decidedly sour（发酵的，刺耳的） note when i saw my six-year-old wrestling with a limb of my azalea（杜鹃花） bush. by the time i got outside, he'd broken it. "can i take this to school today?" he asked. with a wave of my hand, i sent him off. i turned my back so he wouldn't see the tears gathering1 in my eyes. i loved that azalea bush. i touched the broken limb as if to say silently, "i'm sorry."
i wished i could have said that to my hu*and earlier, but i'd been angry. the washing machine had leaked on my brand-new linoleum2. if he'd just taken the time to fix it the night before when i asked him instead of playing checkers with jonathan. what are his priorities anyway? i wondered. i was still mopping up the mess when jonathan walked into the kitchen. "what's for breakfast, mom?" i opened the empty refrigerator. "not cereal," i said, watching the sides of his mouth *. "how about toast and jelly?" i smeared3 the toast with jelly and set it in front of him. why was i so angry? i tossed my hu*and's dishes into the sudsy（起泡沫的） water.
it was days like this that made me want to quit. i just wanted to drive up to the mountains, hide in a cave, and n*r come out.
somehow i ma*d to lug4 the wet clothes to the laundromat. i spent most of the day washing and drying clothes and thinking how love had disappeared from my life. staring at the graffiti（涂鸦） on the walls, i felt as wrung-out as the clothes left in the washers.
as i finished hanging up the last of my hu*and's shirts, i looked at the clock. 2:30. i was late. jonathan's class let out at 2:15. i dumped the clothes in the back seat and hurriedly drove to the school.
i was out of breath by the time i knocked on the teacher's door and peered through the glass. with one finger, she motioned for me to wait. she said something to jonathan and handed him and two other children crayons and a sheet of *.
what now? i thought, as she rustled5 through the door and took me aside. "i want to talk to you about jonathan," she said.
i prepared myself for the worst. nothing would have surprised me. "did you know jonathan brought flowers to school today?" she asked. i nodded, thinking about my favorite bush and trying to hide the hurt in my eyes. i glanced at my son busily coloring a picture. his wavy6 hair was too long and flopped7 just beneath his brow. he brushed it away with the back of his hand. his eyes burst with blue as he ad*ed his handiwork（手工制品）. "let me tell you about yesterday," the teacher insisted. "see that little girl?" i watched the bright-eyed child laugh and point to a colorful picture taped to the wall. i nodded.
"well, yesterday she was almost hysterical8. her mother and father are going through a nasty spanorce. she told me she didn't want to live, she wished she could die. i watched that little girl bury her face in her hands and say loud enough for the class to hear, 'nobody loves me.' i did all i could to console her, but it only seemed to make matters worse." "i thought you wanted to talk to me about jonathan," i said.
"i do," she said, touching9 the sle* of my blouse. "today your son walked straight over to that child. i watched him hand her some pretty pink flowers and whisper, 'i love you.'"
i felt my heart swell10 with pride for what my son had done. i smiled at the teacher. "thank you," i said, reaching for jonathan's hand, "you've made my day."
later that *ning, i began pulling *s from around my lopsided azalea bush. as my mind wandered back to the love jonathan showed the little girl, a *blical verse came to me: "...these three remain: faith, hope and love. but the greatest of these is love." while my son had put love into practice, i had only felt anger.
i heard the familiar squeak11 of my hu*and's brakes as he pulled into the drive. i snapped a small limb bristling12 with hot pink azaleas off the bush. i felt the seed of love that god planted in my family beginning to bloom once again in me. my hu*and's eyes widened in surprise as i handed him the flowers. "i love you," i said.
__