"Mommy,look!"cried my daughter,Darla,pointing to a hawk soaring through the air.

"Uh huh,"I murmured,driving,lost in thought about the tight schedule of my day.

Disappointment filled her face."What's the matter,sweetheart?"I asked.

"Nothing,"my seven-year-old said.The moment was gone.Near home,we slowed to search for the albino deer that came out from behind the thick mass of trees in the early evening.She was nowhere to be seen.

Dinner,baths and phone calls filled the hours until bedtime.

"Come on,Darla,time for bed!"She raced past me up the stairs.Tired,I kissed her on the cheek,said prayers and tucked her in.

"Mom,I forgot to give you something!"she said.

My patience was gone."Give it to me in the morning,"I said,but she shook her head.

"You won't have time in the morning!"she retorted.

"I'll take time,"I answered.Sometimes no matter how hard I tried,time flowed through my fingers like sand in an hourglass,never enough.Not enough for her,for my husband,and definitely not enough for me.

She wasn't ready to give up yet.She wrinkled her little nose in anger and tossed away her chestnut brown hair.

"No,you won't!It will be just like today when I told you to look at the hawk.You didn't even listen to what I said."

I was too tired to argue."Good night!"I shut her door with a resounding thud.

My husband asked,"Why so glum?"I told him.

"Maybe she's not asleep yet.Why don't you check?"he said.

I opened her door,and the moonlight from the window spilled over her sleeping form.In her hand I could see the remains of a crumpled paper.Slowly,I opened her palm to see what the item of our disagreement had been.

Tears filled my eyes.She had torn into small pieces a big red heart with a poem she had written,"Why I Love My Mother?"

I carefully removed the pieces.Once the puzzle was put back into place,I read what she had written:

"Why I Love My Mother?Although you're busy,and you work so hard,you always take time to play with me.I love you Mommy,because I am the biggest part of your busy day!"

The words were an arrow straight to the heart.

Ten minutes later I carried a tray to her room,with two cups of hot chocolate and two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.When I softly touched her smooth cheek,I could feel my heart filled with love.

She woke from the sleep."What is that for?"she asked.

"This is for you,because you are the most important part of my busy day!"

She cracked a sweet smile.

一天中最重要的部分

“媽咪，快看！”女兒達拉指著一只在空中翱翔的鷹喊道。

“嗯，呃。”我一邊開車，一邊咕噥道，想著排得滿滿的日程。

她一臉失望。“怎么了，寶貝？”我問。

“沒什么。”7歲的女兒說。那個時刻轉瞬即逝。快到家時，我們放慢速度尋找那只患白化病的鹿。傍晚時分，它會從茂密的樹叢后面走出來。但是今天哪里都不見它的蹤影。

晚飯、沐浴和電話占滿了就寢前的所有時間。

“快點，達拉，該睡覺了！”她跑過我，上了樓梯。我疲憊不堪，吻了吻她的臉頰，祈禱，給她掖好被子。

“媽媽，我忘記給你一件東西！”她說。

我沒有了耐心。“明天早上給我吧。”我說，但她搖了搖頭。

“明天早上你不會有時間！”她反駁。

“我會抽時間。”我回答。有時無論我如何努力，時間還是像沙漏中的沙粒一樣從指間流過，總是不夠用，不夠用來陪她，不夠用來陪丈夫，當然對自己也不夠用。

她還不準備放棄。她氣呼呼地皺起小鼻子，把紅棕色的頭發(fā)甩到了一邊。

“不，你不會！就像今天我讓你看那只鷹時一樣，你連我說什么都不聽。”

我太累了，不想辯解。“晚安！”我砰的一聲關上她的房門。

我的丈夫問道：“為什么悶悶不樂？”我告訴了他。

“可能她還沒睡著，你為什么不去看看呢？”他說。

我打開她的門，窗外的月光灑在她熟睡的身上。我可以看到她手里有一些揉皺的紙片。我慢慢地掰開她的手掌，想看看我們的分歧到底是什么。

淚水溢滿了我的眼眶。她撕成碎片的原是一顆大大的紅心，上面是她寫的一首詩：“為什么我愛我的媽媽？”

我仔細移動那些紙片。紙片一拼回原樣，我就讀出了她寫的那首詩：

“為什么我愛我的媽媽？盡管你很忙，工作很辛苦，但你總是抽時間陪我玩。我愛你媽咪，因為我是你忙忙碌碌一天中最重要的部分！”

這些話像箭一樣直射我的心臟。

十分鐘后，我端著一只托盤來到她的房間，托盤上放著兩杯熱巧克力飲料和兩塊花生醬果凍三明治。我溫柔地撫摸著她光潔的臉蛋，能感覺到自己心里充滿了濃濃愛意。

她從睡夢中醒來。“這是干什么？”她問。

“這是送給你的，因為你是我忙忙碌碌一天中最重要的部分！”

她露出了甜蜜的微笑。