the family had just moved to rhode island, and the young woman was feeling a little melancholy1（忧郁） on that sunday in may. after all, it was mother's day -- and 800 miles separated her from her parents in ohio.
she had called her mother that morning to wish her a happy mother's day, and her mother had mentioned how colorful the yard was now that spring had arrived. as they talked, the younger woman could almost smell the tantalizing2（撩人的） aroma3 of purple lilacs（紫丁香） hanging on the *g bush outside her parents'back door.
later, when she mentioned to her hu*and how she missed those lilacs, he popped up from his chair. "i know where we can find you all you want, "he said. "get the kids and c'mon. "
so off they went, driving the country roads of northern rhode island on the kind of day only mid－may can produce：sparkling sunshine, unclouded azure4 skies and vibrant5 newness of the green growing all around. they went past small villages and burgeoning6 housing d*lopments, past abandoned apple orchards7, back to where trees and brush have devoured8 old homesteads.
where they stopped, dense9 thickets10 of cedars11 and ju nipers and *rch crowded the roadway on both sides. there wasn't a lilac bush in sight.
"come with me , "the man said. "over that hill is an old cellar hole, from somebody's farm of years ago, and there are lilacs all round it. the man who owns this land said i could poke12 around here anytime. i'm sure he won't mind if we pick a few lilacs. "
before they got halfway13 up the hill, the fragrance14 of the lilacs drifted down to them, and the kids started running. soon, the mother began running, too, until she reached the top.
there, far from view of passing motorists and hidden from encroaching civilization, were the towering lilacs bushes, so laden15 with the huge, cone-shaped flower clusters that they almost bent16 double. with a smile, the young woman rushed up to the nearest bush and buried her face in the flowers, drinking in the fragrance and the memories it recalled.
while the man examined the cellar hole and tried to explain to the children what the house must have looked like, the woman drifted among the lilacs. carefully, she chose a sprig here, another one there, and clipped them with her hu*and's pocket knife. she was in no hurry, relishing17 each blossom as a rare and delicate treasure.
finally, though, they returned to their car for the trip home. while the kids chattered18 and the man drove, the woman sat smiling, surrounded by her flowers, a faraway look in her eyes.
when they were within three miles of home, she suddenly shouted to her hu*and, "stop the car. stop right here!"
the man slammed on the brakes. before he could ask her why she wanted to stop, the woman was out of the car and hurrying up a nearby grassy19 slope with the lilacs still in her arms. at the top of the hill was a nursing home and, because it was such a beautiful spring day, the patients were outdoors strolling with relatives or sitting on the porch.
the young woman went to the end of the porch, where an elderly patient was sitting in her wheelchair, alone, head bowed, her back to most of the others. across the porch railing went the flowers, in to the lap of the old woman. she lifted her head, and smiled. for a few moments, the two women chatted, both aglow20 with happiness, and then the young woman turned and ran back to her family. as the car pulled away, the woman inthe wheelchair waved, and clutched the lilacs.
"mom, "the kids asked, "who was that? why did you give her our flowers? is she somebody's mother?"the mother said she didn't know the old woman. but it was mother's day, and she seemed so alone, and who wouldn't be cheered by flowers? "besides," she added, "i have all of you, and i still have my mother, *n if she is far away. that woman needed those flowers * than i did. "
this sati*ied the kids, but not the hu*and. the next day he purchased half a dozen young lilacs bushes and planted them around their yard, and s*ral times since then he has added *.
i was that man. the young mother was, and is, my wife. now, *ry may, our own yard is redolent with lilacs. *ry mother's day our kids gather purple bouquets21. and *ry year i remember that smile on a lonely old woman's face, and the kindness that put the smile there.
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