寫給未來的信:致30歲的自己

A Letter to my Future Self
寫給未來自己的一封信

In 1994 I wrote a letter. I stuck it in an envelope, put it away and completely forgot about it.
1994年我寫了一封信，我把它裝進信封收起來，就完全忘記了。

It wasn't until we moved into our new home in 2006 that I found it again. It was addressed to me with explicit instructions not to open until my birthday 2005. It was now 2006 so I decided to open it. This is what it said:
直到2006年我們搬到新家，我才又發現了這封信。收信人是我自己，而且明確說明一定到2005年我生日的時候才能打開，那時候已經是2006年，所以我決定打開它。信裏這樣寫道：

Dear Sherri,
親愛的Sherri：

By the time you read this you will be 30. At the age of 18 I had so many Hopes and dreams about where you'd be, what you'd be doing and with whom you'd spend your life with.
你讀這封信的時候已經30歲了。18歲的我有很多的關於未來的希望和夢想：你會在哪裏生活，你會做什麼工作，你會和誰共度一生。

Right now I hope that you have traveled and seen everything you've always wanted to, both in Canada and overseas, and maybe even settled down somewhere in Australia doing some research in the field of biology (genetics).
我希望你已經去過了所有你想去的地方，看過了所有你感興趣的東西，不管是在加拿大還是國外。也許現在你已經在澳大利亞的某處安頓下來，做着生物學（遺傳學）領域的研究工作。

I hope you're married to the man of your dreams. The man of mine is Gwynn. He is originally from South Africa (another place I wish to visit).
我希望你已經嫁給了你的夢中情人。我的夢中情人叫Gwynn，他來自南非（另一個我心神往之的地方）。

You'll probably have two children of your own – a girl(Michaela Anne) and a boy (name yet to be decided).
你應該有了兩個自己的孩子：一個男孩一個女孩。女孩叫Michaela Anne，男孩的名字還沒想好。

If everything goes according to plan you'll be living in Australia in a big house in a small town outside of a big city with a lot of land, a dog, Gwynn and your two beautiful children. Hopefully you have a career in the medical field, maybe doing research in genetics. Gwynn will be a computer programmer and you will be doing alright for yourselves.
如果一切按計劃進行，那現在的你會和Gwynn還有兩個孩子，一起生活在澳大利亞某個大城市外的小鎮上，房子很大，有很多地，養一隻狗。希望你是從事醫藥行業的工作，也可能是做遺傳學研究。Gwynn會是計算機程序員，你們一切安好。

However, if things don't go according to plan for you, I wish you all the love, happiness and joy in the world and don't settle for anything less than the best since that is absolutely what you deserve.
不過就算生活沒有按你的計劃進行，我也祝你擁有世上所有的愛、幸福和快樂。在遇到最好的之前，別讓自己停下來，因爲你絕對值得擁有最好的生活。

Live long, be happy and live life to it's fullest.
好好活着，要快樂，要活到最精彩。

Love Sherri "18"
愛你的18歲的Sherri

When I read this for the first time since writing it I was floored. Even now having dug this up again another 4 years later I still can't help but think this is really cool.
第一次讀這封信的時候我詫異不已。就算四年後的今天再次拿出來讀，我也還是覺得這真的是很帥的想法。

So much of what I wanted for myself has materialized.
那麼多我想要的都已經實現了：

I did travel to a few more places in Canada although I haven't seen everything I'd like to.
我真的去過加拿大很多地方旅行，雖然現在我還沒有把我想看的東西通通看過；

I did marry the man of my dreams and yes he still is my one and only.
我確實嫁給了我的夢中情人，對，他是我的唯一；

I've traveled to the UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
我去過英國、南非、澳大利亞和新西蘭；

I lived in Australia for nearly 4 years in a big house, in a small suburb, in a major city (close enough).
我在澳大利亞的一個大城市住了快四年，我們住在郊區的大房子裏（跟夢想很接近了）；

I had a career in Biology in the field of genetics for 10 years.
我有一份生物學遺傳領域的工作，幹了有十年了；

I have two lovely kids—both boys (names now decided).
我有兩個可愛的孩子—不過都是男孩（名字都定了）；

I have not one dog but two dogs. Both yellow labs from Australia.
我現在養着兩隻狗，都是產自澳大利亞的黃色拉布拉多犬；

Gwynn is a computer programmer.
Gwynn是計算機程序員；

We are doing okay for ourselves.
我們一切安好。

After writing this I quickly forgot about what I had put in here actually. The things that materialized were all met with quite a bit of resistance (all internal) but I suppose these were things that I really did want. Having never strayed too far from home overseas travel was a huge deal. Having never been away from my family moving to Australia for several years was an incredibly huge decision.
其實寫完這篇文章我就很快忘了自己寫了些什麼。所有我實現的夢想，都曾經遭遇了一些內心的掙扎，但是我很確定，這些就是我想要的。對於從未離家太遠的我來說，出國旅行是大事；對於從未離開過家人的我來說，搬到澳大利亞住幾年也是重要的決定。

I find it fascinating how the dreams of a young and naive little girl can become a grown woman's reality.
看着一個年輕幼稚的小女孩的夢想成爲一個成熟女人的真實生活，這個感覺很美好。

I'm curious if you guys have ever written anything to your future self and how it stacks up to your current reality. If you haven't, will you join me in writing a letter now to yourself in say 10 years from now? It's an interesting little experiment.
我很好奇你們有沒有給未來的自己寫過信，然後看着它們一點點堆積成爲你現在的生活。如果還沒寫過，那不如加入我，現在拿起筆，給十年後的自己寫封信吧，這是種有趣的經歷。