I felt our lack most deeply after Christmas, when the other kids talked about the new games and expensive outfits they had found tucked under their live Christmas trees. I didn't mention our silver tree that we unpacked and repacked every year, or that there were only a couple of items for me under the tree: some books, socks, maybe a pair of shoes that I needed. And because my dad wasn't around, Mom pressed me into service -I would wrap my younger sister's gifts so that she could wake up excitedly, believing that Santa had left gifts for her under the tree.

最让我深切地感到我们物质匮乏是在圣诞节之后，那个时候别的孩子都在大谈特谈他们在真正的圣诞树下找到的那些新玩具和昂贵的套装。我从不跟别人提及我们那棵每年过圣诞节时拆开包装、过了圣诞节再包起来的银色圣诞树，也不提圣诞树下为我准备的只有几个零星小物件：几本书、袜子，也许还有我需要的一双鞋。因为爸爸不在身边，所以妈妈就硬让我帮着干活——给妹妹包装礼物，好让她在第二天早上兴奋地醒来，相信圣诞老人在圣诞树下给她留了礼物。

Thanks to my mom's sacrifices and big dreams, I'd made it to the Ivy League: Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Yet I was afraid that I wouldn't measure up to the other students. They seemed to exude confidence and the smell of money. I felt so lost, so far away, as if my mom had said, "Well, if you're old enough to go six hours away, you're old enough to take care of yourself."

感谢妈妈的牺牲和她的那些大梦想，