"Dad," I say one day, "Let’s take a trip. Why don't you fly and meet me?"
“爸爸”，有一天我说，“我们一起去旅行吧。你可以坐飞机来和我会面？"
My father had just retire after 27 years as a manager for IBM. His job filled his day, his thought, his life. While he woke up and took a warm shower, I screamed under a freezing waterfall Peru. While he tied a tie and put on the same Swiss watch, I rowed a boat across Lake of the Ozarks.
我父亲在担任IBM经理27年后刚刚退休。他的工作充斥着他的每一天、思想、生活。当他醒来并洗了个热水澡时，我在秘鲁冰冷的瀑布下尖叫。当他打好领带，戴上同样的瑞士手表时，我划船穿过了奥扎克湖。
My father sees me drifting aimlessly, nothing to show for my 33 years but a passport full of funny stamps. He wants me to settle down, but now I want him to find an adventure.
我父亲看到我漫无目的地游走，在我33年的生活中，除了一本贴满有趣邮票的护照，什么都没有。他想让我安定下来，但现在我想让他去冒险。
He agrees to travel with me through the national parks. We meet four weeks later in Rapid City.
他同意和我一起穿越国家公园。我们四周后在拉皮德城见面。
“What is our first stop?” asks my father.
“第一站是哪里？”父亲问。
“What time is it?”
“几点了？”
“Still don’t have a watch?”
“还是没有手表？”
Less than an hour away is Mount Rushmore. As he stares up at the four Presidents carved in granite, his mouth and eyes open slowly, like those of little boy.
距离拉什莫尔山不到一个小时的路程。当他凝视着花岗岩雕刻的四位总统时，他的嘴巴和眼睛慢慢张开，就像小男孩一样。
“Unbelievable,” he says, “How was this done?”
“难以置信，”他说，“这是怎么做到的？”
A film in the information center shows sculptor Gutzon Borglum devoted 14 years to the sculpture and then left the final touches to his son.
信息中心的一部电影显示，雕塑家古特松·博格卢姆为这座雕塑花了14年时间，然后将最后的润色留给了他的儿子。
We stare up and I ask myself, would I ever devote my life to anything?
我们抬头一看，我问自己，我会把我的一生奉献给任何事情吗
No directions, no goals. I always used to hear those words in my father’s voice. Now I hear them in my own.
没有方向，就没有目标。我过去总是从父亲的声音里听到这些话，现在我听到了自己的。
The next day we’re at Yellowstone National Park, where we have a picnic.
第二天我们来到黄石国家公园，在那里野餐。
“Did you ever travel with your dad?” I ask.
“你和你的父亲一起旅行过吗？”我问。
“Only once,” he says. “I never spoke much with my father. We loved each other - but never said it. Whatever he could give me, he gave.”
“只有一次，”他说，“我从来没有和我父亲说过很多话。我们彼此相爱——但从来没有说过。他能给我什么，就给我什么。”
The kast sebtebce - it’s probably the same thing I’d say about my father. And what I’d want my child to say about me.
kast sebtebce——这可能和我对我父亲说的是同一件事。我希望我的孩子对我说些什么。
In Glacier National Park, my father says, “I’ve never seen water so blue.” I have, in several places of the world, I can keep traveling, I realize - and maybe a regular job won’t be as dull as I feared.
在冰川国家公园，父亲说：“我从未见过这么蓝的水。”我在世界上好几处地方看过，我可以继续旅行——也许一份固定的工作不会像我担心的那样枯燥。
Weeks after our trip, I call my father.
旅行几周后，我打电话给我父亲。
“The photos from the trip are wonderful,” he says. “We have got to take another trip like that sometime.”
“这次旅行的照片太棒了，”他说，“总有一天我们还会再次旅行。”
I tell him I’ve learn decided to settle down, and I’m wearing a watch.
我告诉他我已经决定安定下来了，我戴着手表。