The most precious gift

最珍貴的禮物

In high school, I played varsity football. I wasn’t a star, but in my senior year I was good enough to start at defensive and offensive tackle. Four years of brutal preseason football camps, sweaty shoulder pads and buckets of black eye paint all came down to my last game. I urged my dad to bring our video camera. I wanted to capture the last plays of my football career for posterity1.

Dad got me to play football in the first place. I enjoyed throwing the ball around with my friends, but I didn’t think I had what it took to play on a team. “I’m no football player,” I told my dad.

“You’ll never know what you’re capable of unless you give it a try,” he told me. So, I did. I remember how proud he was when I won the most-improved player award my sophomore2 season, prouder than if I’d been the MVP, and the hug he gave me after I received my varsity letter. There was rarely a game that Dad wasn’t on the sidelines3, cheering me on.

I waved at my parents before the opening kickoff, and put on my game face. Our opponents had the ball first. I crouched down and awaited the snap. My pads crunched4 as I made contact with the offensive tackle. I grabbed at the jersey of the opponent and dragged him to the turf5. A loud cheer erupted from the sidelines. I sure hoped Dad got that one on tape. I straightened my helmet and looked over. There was Dad with the camera, cheering like crazy.

On the next defensive series, I did a spin move and burst through the line to sack their quarterback. A couple plays later, I made another stop of their running back. Great! My last game was turning my intensity up a notch6. It seemed as if every time I came off the field, the coaches were congratulating me for another great play. By the end of the game, I had seven tackles and a sack—my best performance ever. A perfect end to my career. I ran into my dad’s arms. I was sweaty and smelly, but he hugged me anyway.

I couldn’t wait to watch the tape. Relieve every moment. As soon as we got in the house, I took the cassette out of the camera and rewound it in the VCR. My dad, mom, sister and I sat down in the living room in front of the big screen TV and dimmed the lights. I pressed play.

The video started. The two teams lined up before the snap, then the running back taking the handoff, running up to the line, me reaching out, and then...clouds. I could hear my dad, screaming, “Way to go, A!” as images of the sky shook up and down on screen.

“Where’s Adam’s tackle?” my sister said.

“Sorry,” Dad replied, sheepishly. I learned forward to see the next big play…and the next and the next. Not one was on tape. Not even my sack! Every time, just as I was about to make a play, the camera would begin filming alternating bits of grass and parts of bleachers, and the audio of my dad’s loud cheering cutting in and out. “All right, Adam!” I could hear my dad yell. “That’s my boy! That’s my son!”

The tape ended and Dad was quiet. “I’m sorry, Adam,” he said, finally. That’s when it dawned on me. I didn’t have any of my football glory caught on tape—I had something better. A perfect record of Dad’s cheers, his excitement, his uncontainable joy in watching me play. His pride in me.

“I can’t believe I didn’t get anything on tape,” Dad said.

I smiled. “Yes, you did,” I said, and hugged him hard.

上中學的時候，我是校橄欖球隊的主力。雖然我不是明星，但在高年級階段，以我的水平足夠可以擔當防守或者進攻。四年殘酷的賽前集訓生活，被汗水浸透的肩膀護墊，還有那一桶桶黑色眼部塗料都在我最後的決戰之後宣告結束。我強烈要求爸爸帶上攝影機，我想要爸爸幫我記錄下我橄欖球生涯的最後一場比賽，以後可以給我的孩子們看看。

爸爸堅持要我打前鋒。我喜歡在朋友的加油聲中投球，但其實我並不覺得自己真的具備那些前鋒所具有的能力。“我不是橄欖球手，”我對爸爸說。

“如果你不嚐試，你永遠都不會知道自己到底可以做什麽，”爸爸告訴我。於是，我接受了爸爸的意見。我還記得在第二年賽季中當我獲得“最佳進步球員獎”時爸爸臉上洋溢著多麽驕傲的笑容，他似乎比我獲得“最有價值球員”還要感到自豪。當我收到校隊的通知時，爸爸給我了一個熱烈的擁抱。從那以後，隻要我出場的比賽，爸爸從不曾錯過，他總會在那裏為我呐喊助威。

在開球前，我向爸爸媽媽揮了揮手，隨即便戴上了比賽用的防護麵罩。對方先發球。我半蹲在那裏，隨時準備接應猛烈的攻球。在我竭力阻截對方進攻的球員時，肩膀護墊吱吱作響。我抓住對方球員的運動衫並把他摔倒在草地上。看台上爆發出一陣陣熱烈的歡呼聲。我確信爸爸已經將這精彩的一刻拍了下來。我正了正頭盔，朝看台望去。就在那裏，爸爸手拿著攝影機，欣喜若狂地為我歡呼。

接下來我擔任的角色是後衛，我像陀螺般旋轉著突破對方的陣線，以便襲擊對方的四分衛。後來我又阻截住了其他幾個從後方襲擊的球員。太棒了！我最後的比賽把我的球技提高了一個層次。幾乎我每次走下球場，教練都會為我的又一次精彩表演向我祝賀。比賽結束時，我一共有七次阻截和一次搶奪。這是我有史以來在球場上最為出色的表現。這也為我的橄欖球生涯畫上了完美的句點。我一下子撲到爸爸的懷裏。雖然我渾身被汗水浸透，而且散發著難聞的氣味，可是爸爸並不在乎，緊緊地擁抱著我。

我迫不及待地想要看錄影帶，我想再次回味體驗每一個激動人心的時刻。一進家門，我便趕緊把錄影帶取出來並放進錄像機。爸爸、媽媽、姐姐和我一起坐在客廳裏的大屏幕電視前，我把燈調暗，並按下了播放鍵。

錄像開始了。比賽開始前，兩側的隊員列隊等候，然後後邊的球員爭得了手遞手傳球的資格，一路向終點線跑去，我伸出手去接球，這時，屏幕上出現了雲朵。我能聽到爸爸在高聲呼喊：“加油，亞當。”與此同時，屏幕上出現了一片上下搖動的天空。

“亞當在哪裏阻截？”姐姐問道。

“很抱歉，”爸爸難為情地說。我努力想找到下一場重要的比賽??還有之後的很多場比賽。可是錄影帶上空空如也，甚至連我的搶奪酷姿也沒有。每當我正要衝鋒陷陣的時候，鏡頭裏就會交替地出現星星點點的草地和一部分看台，還有爸爸洪亮的呐喊聲時不時地從喇叭中傳出來。“好的，亞當！”我能聽到爸爸的喊聲。“這才是男子漢，這才是我的好兒子！”

錄像結束了，爸爸沉默不語。最後，他開口了：“我真的很抱歉，亞當。”就在那時，我猛然間明白了。雖然我在球場上英姿颯爽的帥氣沒有留在錄影帶上，但是我有更好的回憶——一盤載滿爸爸為我歡呼雀躍的錄影帶，上麵記錄了他因看我的球賽而激動萬分，因看我的球賽而情不自禁地喜形於色的情形。爸爸一直以我為榮。

“我真的無法相信自己什麽也沒拍到，”爸爸懊悔地說。

我微笑著說：“不，爸爸，您拍到了。”接著我們緊緊相擁在一起。