Today is the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.
I was busy packing my bags and preparing to return to Changsha from my rural hometown.
My parents were busy, delivering supplies such as New Year goods, bacon and vegetables to my car.
When everything was ready, they stood outside the door, looking like they wanted to stop talking.
I was puzzled, such an expression, never seen in the faces of my mountain-like parents.
In my impression, they were always serious and did not say one thing or another.
Later, after my repeated questioning, they sniffed and asked me if I could come back from the Lantern Festival.
Even when he was talking, my old father, still looking embarrassed, rubbed his hands together, afraid that I would refuse, and quickly explained: It doesn't matter if you don't come back, we know that you are busy at work.
At that moment, seeing my father's gray hair, I burst into tears.
Our parents, who have been in charge of their children all their lives, have become so humble in the presence of their children when they are old.
They are afraid of causing us trouble, so they are carefully tempted to talk and do things.
They began to learn to observe the color of speech, to learn to hide their needs and desires in front of their children, for fear that their words would bring you trouble.
In the first half of their lives, they are willing to give everything for you, but when they are old, they still have to look at your face and act.
Parents who were once like mountains eventually became the defeated generals of their children.
This is the greatest sorrow between parents and children.
Today is the first day of the start of work for many companies, and it is also the day when the returning army ends its last holiday.
And this day is also the day when 200 million parents who stayed in the countryside were once again "abandoned" by their children.
We set out for the distance, but we forgot how reluctant and helpless the parents behind us were.
Seeing a video on Douyin made people cry.
After the end of the year, the parents went to work, and a child kept running behind his parents' car....
And the grandparents stood on the mountain crying, wiping their tears to bid them farewell.....
A man, who left home after the Spring Festival to turn on the surveillance, found his mother secretly hiding in the room crying alone.
They are always like this, they are only a part of our lives, but we are the whole of their lives.
Afraid of your worries, I dare not cry in front of you.
Afraid of your troubles, even the words of reluctance and retention cannot be easily declared.
Some people say: Every time I leave, my parents are eager to give me the whole family.
You're gone, and your home is empty.
Parents who are not good at words, parents who are careful, parents who are eager to give everything to you, and finally can only walk alone in their own world.
There is a topic online:
What kind of life did our parents live when we left home?
The answer to this question has made countless people cry bitterly.
A high-praise message goes like this:
Without our days at home, parents were empty nesters. They'll be quiet all the time, and maybe a little lost.
Their lives are simple and simple, they don't talk much and are often in a daze. Their lives are far less abundant than when we were at home...
In the short drama "Stay a Few Days home", the old father lives alone in the old house.
In the absence of the children, the father's daily life is to walk in the house over and over again, talk to the furniture, chat with flowers and plants, and even pretend that the children are there, and hold a "family meeting".
Someone said: "The greatest sorrow of people in their twilight years is not the decline of memory brought about by the years, the inconvenience of mobility, and even the disease, but the birth of children, diligent and sincere, hard work and resentment for a lifetime, at the end of life, but live into an island that no one cares about." ”
Our parents, why not?
They live their lives with great care, saving a dime. Save the money and spend it when the child comes home.
They support each other, grow grain and vegetables toil, and even if they are sick, they will endure it, unwilling to burden their children.
Have you ever noticed that every time you go home, the table at home is always full of dishes that we love to eat.
And after we left, the table was cold and cold, and in the food that was too simple to be simple was their affection for their children.
Always leave the best for us.
"People's Daily" said: Once the charger is pulled, it is the New Year when it is plugged in again.
In the day-to-day waiting, in the wind and dust of the years, our parents are aging at an alarming rate.
They went from being tall as the mountain to being old men with their backs hunched over;
They have changed from the father who said one thing and the other to the old man who was observant and careful.
Their steps are no longer brisk and vigorous, and the movements of their hands are no longer neat and neat, and in the beating of the years, they walk clumsily, slowly, behind the great wheel of the times, and walk step by step.
The host Zhang Quanling once told a story.
She once went to the nursing home to interview the elderly.
In the process of speaking, smell the smell of the old man's body.
She carefully asked the old man how often he would take a bath.
The old people say: Try not to bathe, because when you are old, it is easy to slip and fall in the bath, and once you fall, the children will be in trouble for the rest of their lives.
They use the way of reducing bathing to prevent the probability of accidents, so that there will be an "old man's smell" that we have always "disliked".
After reading this story, my heart is not very sad:
Our parents, even if they try to live healthily, are only trying to reassure their children from afar.
"I am already in my twilight years, I am afraid that I will no longer be able to shelter you from the wind and rain, and not to cause you trouble, is the last way to express love to you in my lifetime." 」
Li Ronghao has a song "Mom and Dad", the song made countless netizens cry, in the NetEase Cloud more than 200,000 comments, the psychological defense line was instantly defeated by a high praise message.
"That night I heard my father say: If you can't raise me anymore, then put medicine into my father's wine, and my father will definitely drink..."
As adults, the most our parents said to us were:
Don't work too hard, there is still money at home.
Don't come back, get a hard break and have fun outside.
I'm in good health, you don't have to worry.
These white lies are the deepest love our parents have for their children.
They have been bitter for a lifetime, tired for a lifetime, and only hope that they will do more and give their children more help.
At the very least, they don't want to make themselves a burden to their children.
Someone has described Chinese parents as having two modes of existence throughout their lives: "online" and "invisible."
When they can still pay for their children, they are "online" and desperately "flashing" for their children.
When they are old and unable to pay for their children, they choose to be "invisible", preferring to be sick, wronged, or even die, rather than bother their children.
Suddenly I remembered a passage from Wang Shuo's "Letter to My Daughter":
"When I was a child, I was afraid of my parents, and when I was older, I began to annoy them; then I was the tip of the needle to Mai Mang, and I quarreled when I met them; then I looked down on them and avoided them; and then, when I thought of them, I felt sad."
Sad for what?
Sadly, they'd rather be covered in mud than have you fly out of the mountains.
Sadly, they are getting old and we are turning a blind eye.
When do you feel like your parents are getting old?
It's when you teach them to use a smartphone over and over again, but they never learn it;
It is when you take them into the big city, and there is no joy and pleasure in his eyes, only fear and uneasiness;
It's when you call them over and over again and they learn to report good news and not bad news.
That's the saddest part.
There was once a picture that swept the whole network.
A 73-year-old Palestinian man was diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to an intensive care unit.
Because of the epidemic prevention and control, the hospital refused to visit all family members, and her 30-year-old son, because he missed his mother too much, climbed to the window every day to accompany his mother.
However, 5 days later, the old man still died of illness.
This photo has also broken through the wall in the hearts of countless people.
Teacher Gao Yalin once said a passage:
Parents are a wall between us and Death. When your parents are there, you can't see death, and when your parents are gone, you will face death.
No matter how old we are, as long as we are in front of our parents, we are still the naughty children who bear joy under our knees. Even if everyone wants you to face the responsibilities and pains of the adult world, they are always a haven for your soul.
Parents are here, and there is still a place in life;
When your parents go, there is only one way back in life.
As a child, the biggest illusion is that parents will never leave.
We were all the most loyal children, and we swore from the bottom of our hearts:
Come to Japan for a long time, wait for us to achieve fame, the day when we return home, and then to the parents' knees to undertake filial piety.
However, the cruelest thing in this world is time.
Life is short, life is fragile, some kindness, can not afford to wait.
Don't let a momentary miss become a regret of a lifetime.
The second half of life, every day with parents, is worth doubling down on.