We checked out town and headed to the airport to pick up the last straggler, who came in from San Francisco for one night. “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything,” she said, despite her 4 a.m. trip to the airport. That night we celebrated over margaritas and Southwestern fare, each of us gazing at the faces around the table as we wondered, who would have thought the bonds of childhood could last this long? Some of us have been friends since the age of five, some since age twelve and, yet, here we are approaching the age of thirty. Quite rapidly, I might add.

　　我们离开城里，去机场接最后一个“落伍者”。她来自旧金山，会来呆上一晚。“我怎么也不能错过这次聚会。”她说。尽管她要凌晨四点赶到机场。那天晚上，我们喝着玛格丽塔酒，吃着美国西南部的佳肴来庆祝。彼此都凝望着围坐在桌子前的这些面孔，心生感慨：谁会想到孩童时的友谊可以维持这么长时间呢?我们其中一些人自五岁起便是朋友，有些是十二岁才开始成为朋友，然而，我们现在都接近三十岁了。真的过得很快，我不得不加上这句。

　　The weekend consisted of long talks by the pool, wonderful meals, and a hike that brought the entire group to tears. Not tears of sadness or anger, but an outpouring of emotion over the sheer wonderment that we can be this close-twelve years after graduation-with such physical distance between us. It’s heartbreaking that we can’t spend our days together in the same neighborhood, walking the same streets, reading the same newspaper at the same coffee shop. But that’s life. Grown-up life.

　　那个周末的活动包括在池塘边长时间谈心，享用美味的饭菜以及一次让我们所有人泪湿衣襟的远足步行。这些不是伤心或愤怒的眼泪，而是纯粹惊叹尽管毕业十二年了，彼此距离那么遥远，但却能保持如此亲密的关系，眼泪是这种情感的迸发。我们不能在同一个社区里生活，不能每天走在同一条街道上，不能坐在同一间咖啡店里看同一份报纸，这都让人感到悲伤。但，这就是生活，成年人的生活。

　　Most amazing is the group’s adaptability to one another. The months we spend apart are non-existent. No need to get reacquainted, we jump back in the saddle and it’s as comfortable as ever. Old friends-friends with an ever-present sense of support and sisterhood, friends that know each other innately-are hard to come by and yet we remain as tight today as we were, years ago, giggling in the back row of Mr. McKechnie’s 9th grade math class.

　　最让人觉得不可思议的是我们这帮人对彼此的适应性。仿佛我们分开的那些日子不曾存在过。无须重新了解熟悉对方，只要跳回各自的角色，舒心依旧。老朋友们——那些不断给予支持，姐妹情深的朋友，那些命定知心的朋友——是很难遇到的。然而如今，我们亲密如故，就像当年念九年级时在麦基奇尼先生教的数学课上我们在教室后排咯咯傻笑那样。

　　Life today, however, is no math class. Our world, spinning slightlyoff its axis is full of doubt, full of fear. Yet it reminds me-now, more than ever-how vital it is that we stay in close touch. We may have questions about our future, but we have true faith in our past, and though this reunion of friends has come to a close, we are already drawing up plans for the next one.

　　虽然我们如今已不用再上数学课了。我们的世界稍微有点离轴，其中充满了猜疑和恐惧。然而，这反而提醒了我——让我现在比以前更清楚地知道，保持亲密关系是多么的重要。我们可能会对未来充满疑问，但我们对于过去有真正的信念。尽管这次的朋友聚会已接近尾声，但我们已经开始着手计划下一次聚会了