pickyvicky的部落格

前言:
磨練一下你的閱讀能力(Reading Comprehension)吧；
偷學幾招V式寫作技巧(Composition Skills) 吧；
After all, 要偷窺老師的隱私(privacy)，英文是不可或缺的(indispensable)。

                                                                               9:40am—11:40am. Jan. 3, 2008

My dear Crystal ,

   Happy New Year to your Family.  Wish you a promising 2008.

   May I know what are the top five New Year Resolutions of yours?

    As is well known, your blog articles have inspired many young people out there, certainly including me, a not-too-young student. (Without any doubt, you have been my mentor in the past ten years.)
Reading along your stories in the past year, a question however props out from time to time:

  What is your biggest “DREAM” in the following years to come?

   Even though,after teaching for more than two decades, you retired two and a half years ago (at quite a “beautiful” stage of life), ahead of you are at least another quarter of a century. You have had, as the world knows, almost all possessions everyone desires. What else will you “manage to” pursue?  Since being aggressive (towards both work and life) is one of your distinct traits, besides all the gratitude and contentment (and the material satisfaction, to be direct), is there anything else that will make you “fight for?”

    Sorry to put it bluntly, I see more than a few similarities between your life and mine (though mine is of a much smaller scale).  That is why I write this long letter, sincerely in hope of a sudden enlightenment, in the very beginning of the new year. 

    At the age of thirty-five now, I have a very satisfactory life. I only teach six classes (in a row) over the weekend, staying at home during the weekdays, with my twin babies with the help of a Philippine housemaid for all the housework. I have a considerate husband, who is potentially to have a promising future after he graduates hopefully in the year to come. Although we don’t have a house of our own, my bank savings (what I have earned from the past decade’s teaching) can free my family from all economic pressure. I have traveled a lot overseas like you do. (not ten trips a year as you did, though.) I stay fit and healthy; involve myself in financial investment, being increasingly interested in financial information and international foreign affairs. (After all, an English teacher always equips herself with a global view. J) I feel blessed and grateful every day. I am ready to quit my classes and act as a housewife if needed or once determined.

   Occasional depression/ anxiety arises when I sigh over the fleeting time.  I am not bored at home at all, wishing for more time to read, to spend time with my family, to exercise, to name but a few).

   BUT I have been thinking to myself in the past months, what else do I desire in the rest of my life; to be specific, in the other half of my life journey, what else am I to fight for? Lots of respectable successful men in society do not stop working till the age of 60, 70 or even older; they enjoy challenges  all along the way. Sense of achievement is a must for them.  Creating their own value in society is what they believe in. How about me? I am sure an aggressive woman as well.  Is it too early for me to do nothing but feel grateful at home with my family, treasuring what I have earned from all the hard work in the past decade?

   Sorry to be this serious and wordy. Hope your wisdom helps cast a new light on my life, probably on a retiring life to come or rather a change of course for another challenge.  Thanks a lot for your time, my dear Mentor .

                                                                                  Sincerely Yours, 
                                                                                                    Vicky Li
後記:
是的，對未來Vicky也有徬徨無助的時候。我選擇勇敢地面對自己的焦慮和不安，我深信:

只要一再地去和自己對話和外界碰撞，一定有"柳暗花明又一村"的契機出現。