In March， my family reunited for a weekend in Sacramento1， where I grew up， to celebrate my mother’s 80th birthday. The city had turned green after a period of torrential rain and storms. In the fields around the airport， buttercups2 and poppies bloomed. The native grasses， usually torched stiff by the unrelenting sun， were a lush emerald.

3月，我们全家齐聚萨克拉门托共度周末，为我母亲庆祝80大寿。这座我生长于斯的城市在连日暴雨之后已然一片新绿。机场周边的原野上，毛茛与罂粟花竞相绽放，平日里被骄阳烤得干硬的野草也舒展为一片绒毯般的青翠。

I knew climate change caused this verdant hallelujah3， and yet， I was enraptured4. As I drove in my mother’s car along I-80， an unfamiliar feeling stirred in me—affection for a landscape that I’d long found bleak， especially after I’d lost my father here years ago. Seeing Sacramento anew made me see my memories of this place through fresh eyes， and， unexpectedly， I felt connected again to my father.

我知道，这般青翠欲滴的景象不过是气候变化使然，却仍为之沉醉。当我驾驶母亲的车行驶在80号州际公路时，一种陌生的情愫在胸中涌动——一直以来感觉这片土地荒凉，特别是多年前在此失去父亲后更觉萧索，此刻竟对它萌生眷恋。再次看到萨克拉门托，我对此地尘封的记忆焕然一新，猝不及防间，我又对父亲产生了亲近感。

Until I was 18， I lived on the edge of the city， near the foothills of the Sierra5， in a suburb that at the time slanted6 politically right while my parents slanted left， where most mothers stayed home while my mother worked. Families in our neighborhood， built on the remnants of orange orchards， had second houses on Lake Tahoe7.

18岁前，我住在内华达山脉山麓下的市郊。此处政治倾向偏右，而我父母偏左，当地主妇大多闲居家中，唯有母亲外出工作。我们的社区建在废弃的橙园，每家每户都在太浩湖畔置有度假屋。

My family saved its money for trips to the remote islands of Vanuatu8 in the Pacific， France and Ireland， voyages organized by my father. A history aficionado9， he rose every morning at 5 a.m. to read before my brother and I woke up. He was decades older than the other dads， an Irish-Catholic civil servant， and a devoted Democrat. The antithesis of California cool， he wore suit pants with tropical shirts and tennis shoes. When he wasn’t in his office in the state Capitol， he was with my brother and me. He took us on excursions to Gold Rush10 towns， bribed us with doughnuts to watch World War II newsreels at the local airbase， and pulled the car over whenever we passed a historic plaque.

我们全家省吃俭用，只为奔赴父亲精心策划的远行——前往太平洋深处的瓦努阿图群岛、法国与爱尔兰。这位历史迷每日清晨五点即起，赶在我和弟弟醒来前独享书香。