双语美文：坚持不放弃，你便是生活的主人

When my parents separated in 1954 I was only 2 years old and I never saw my father again.

1954年，我的父母离婚了，那时我才两岁，从那之后，我就再也没见过我的父亲。

My mother and her family kept information about my father and his family a secret from me for over half a century.

在将近一个世纪的时间里，我的母亲，还有我母亲娘家的亲戚一直对我守口如瓶，他们闭口不提我的父亲，还有我父亲这边的亲人。

In 2010 I began to search for my father through Ancestry.Com.

2010年，我开始通过Ancestry.Com网站寻找我父亲的相关信息。

However I learned he had died of cancer on August 6, 1999 in a hospital in Dallas, Texas.

没有想到，我得到的是一个噩耗。我父亲早已在1999年8月6日去世，在德克萨斯州达拉斯市的一家医院里，死因是癌症。

When I got my father's death certificate the medical examiner told me because my father had no relatives around the city buried him in a body bag in a unmarked grave in an old cemetery.

我终于拿到了父亲的死亡证明时，当时的法医告诉我，由于我父亲在当地没有任何家属，医院只能把他埋葬在一个废旧的墓地里，墓碑上没有名字，遗骸入殓于廉价的裹尸袋之中。

I knew my father served in WW2 so I decided to work on getting his remains brought back to my state to be buried in our national cemetery.

From 2011 to 2017 I kept working on lowering my debt from a divorce and increase my credit score so someday I could get a personal loan.

后来我离婚了，从2011年到2017年，六年的时间里，我一直设法降低自己由于离婚所必须支付的债务，并提升我的个人信用度，以冀某天我能获得一笔个人贷款，完成我让父亲入土在国家公墓的心愿。

That certificate of military service proved my father served 43 months in WW2 in the U.S.A. Army Air Force fighting the Nazi's.

军方出具了一份证明，证明我父亲在二战期间服役于美国空军，与纳粹战斗了43个月之久。

I still did not have the money though.

但我还是出不起巨额的转葬费。

In July of 2018 a bank approved a $10,000 personal loan so I had a funeral director apply for a permit to exhume my father.

2018年7月，银行批准了我的个人贷款，我获得了1万美元的贷款，我联系了一位丧葬承办人，请他代理申请父亲的转葬事宜。

After 4 months of waiting I asked Senator Brown for help again in November.

经过4个月的漫长等待，在11月，我不得不再次请求一位姓Brown的议员伸出援手。

Six days after he contacted Texas officials a permit was granted.

他为我跟德克萨斯州政府官员进行了交涉，6天后，转葬事宜获得了批准。

On July, 9, 2019 a airplane will land at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport where I will be finally reunited with my father and touch his metal casket and the missing piece of my heart will be restored.

明年7月9日，一架飞机将会把我父亲的遗骸送到克里夫兰霍普金斯国际机场，到那时，我们父子就终于可以重聚了，我可以触碰到他的金属棺材，我心里的空洞终于可以填满了。

On January 10, 2019 the Ohio Patriot Guard Riders will escort my father's hearse through my home town to be buried with honors in our states National cemetery and one day in January Senator Brown will have a American Flag flown over our Nation's Capital to honor my father.

2019年1月10日，俄亥俄州爱国者卫队骑手将护卫着父亲的灵柩穿过我所在的城市，将遗体礼葬在国家公墓。同一个月，议员Brown先生将带着一面美国国旗飞跃首都上空，向我的父亲致敬。

If you never give up one day your dream will become reality.

只要坚持不放弃，总有一天，你的愿望会变成现实。

（翻译：小木）