Sometimes I really doubt (怀疑) whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are busy trying to make money in order to pay for my brother's education and mine. They don't act in the romantic ways that I read in books or I see on TV. For them, "I love you" is too difficult to say. Even sending flowers to each other on some special days is hardly ever seen.
One day, my mother was repairing a quilt. I silently sat beside her and looked at her. "Mom, may I ask you a question?" I said. "What?" she replied, still doing her work. "Is there love between you and Dad?" I asked her in a very low voice. My mother stopped her work and looked at me in surprise. She didn't answer my question at once. Then, she bowed her head and continued to do her work.
I was afraid that I had hurt her feelings. I felt so embarrassed that I didn't know what to do. But at last I heard my mother say the following words:
"Look at this thread (线). Sometimes it appears, but most of the time, it hides in the quilt. The thread really makes the quilt strong and durable. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen anywhere or anytime, but it's really there."
I couldn't understand her until the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly got sick seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. When they returned from the hospital, they both looked very pale. After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk, my mother helped my father walk slowly on the country road. My father had never been so gentle. The doctor had said my father would recover in two months. But after two months he still couldn't walk by himself. All of us were worried about him. "Dad, how are you feeling now?" I asked him one day. "Susan, don't worry about me." he said gently. "To tell you the truth, I just like walking with your mom. I like this kind of life." Reading his eyes, I know he loves my mother deeply.
Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. But from this experience, I understand that love is just a thread in the quilt of our life. Love is inside, making life strong and warm.
