芬妮姨媽的藍(lán)莓醬秘方

My Aunt Fannie was the blueberry jam woman. Of course， she wasnt really my aunt and， out of fear， I never called her that to her face. I only referred to her as “my Aunt Fannie”. The name always made my father chuckle and gave my mother cause to look sternly at both of us—at me for being disrespectful of my elder and at my father for encouraging my bad behavior.

As a young woman， my mother had worked in the kitchen of a large Victorian farmhouse owned by Fannie Cratty and her twin brother， Farnsworth. During those years my mother helped Aunt Fanny make the best blueberry cobbler jam ever tasted by anyone in Glenfield. She was noted for her jam and for never sharing the recipe with another living soul. Even though my mother knew the recipe by heart， as long as Aunt Fannie was alive， she never made the jam without Ms. Cratty in our kitchen to direct the process.

Each August， when blueberry season would roll around， my mother would prepare me for Aunt Fannies visit. It was imperative that I be on my best behavior. After all， the woman was old， wealthy， stern， and a pillar of the church. Whenever she was at the house， I didnt need to be reminded to guard my thoughts and watch my tongue.

One year， after I had been particularly helpful with the jam process， Aunt Fannie gave me a quarter and then made me promise that I would never spend it. “Hold onto this quarter，” she said， “and someday you will be rich. I still have my very first quarter， given to me by my grandfather.” It had obviously worked for her. So， I tucked the 1938-quarter in a small box， put it in my dresser drawer， and waited to become rich.

I now have the blueberry cobbler jam recipe and the quarter from Aunt Fannie. In peoples eyes Aunt Fannies success was attributed to that secret recipe. But to me， it was just a common recipe. Neither has significantly contributed to my net worth， but I keep them as reminders to hold onto the valuable things in life. Money can make you feel rich for a while， but it is the relationships and the memories of time spent with friends and family that truly leave you wealthy. And that is a fortune that anyone can build.

我的芬妮姨媽是做藍(lán)莓醬的。當(dāng)然，她并非我的親姨媽。出于對她的畏懼，我從不這樣當(dāng)面稱呼她，只在提及她時才用“我的芬妮姨媽”作指代。父親總被這個稱呼惹得咯咯笑，母親也總板起臉瞪著我和父親，瞪著我是因為我對長輩不敬，瞪著父親是因為他縱容我使壞。

母親年輕時在一個大戶人家的廚房幫工，這戶人家有一棟建于維多利亞時代的大房子。房子的主人是芬妮·克瑞蒂和她的雙胞胎弟弟法斯沃。那些年里，母親幫著芬妮姨媽做格倫菲爾鎮(zhèn)公認(rèn)最美味的藍(lán)莓醬。芬妮姨媽因藍(lán)莓醬而聞名，所有人都知道她不把秘方告訴別人。盡管那個秘方母親早已背得滾瓜爛熟，但只要芬妮姨媽還在世，沒有她在廚房里指導(dǎo)整個制作過程，母親絕不會私下里做藍(lán)莓醬。

每年8月是藍(lán)莓的成熟期，母親會讓我為芬妮姨媽的到訪作好準(zhǔn)備。她命令我以最佳表現(xiàn)示人。畢竟這婦人上了年紀(jì)，富有、苛刻，還是教會的熱心贊助者。她一到我家，我就會自覺地提醒自己不要亂說，不要亂想。

有一年，在我特別用心地幫忙做藍(lán)莓醬后，芬妮姨媽給了我一枚25美分的硬幣，并要我承諾決不會花掉它。她說：“緊緊抓住這枚硬幣，總有一天你會變得富有。我還收藏著我拿到的第一枚硬幣，那是我爺爺給我的。”看來，這枚硬幣的確幫助她變得富有了。所以，我把那枚1938年制造的硬幣裝進一個小盒子里，然后把盒子放進我的梳妝臺抽屜，等著成為有錢人。

我現(xiàn)在擁有了藍(lán)莓醬的秘方和芬妮姨媽給的那枚硬幣。很多人認(rèn)為芬妮姨媽的成功得益于那個秘方。但對我而言，那不過是一個很普通的食譜。那枚硬幣也好，秘方也罷，都沒能為我的凈資產(chǎn)的增加作出過貢獻，但我仍保留著它們，只想借其提醒自己要把握人生中珍貴的東西。金錢只能讓你暫時覺得富有，唯有和他人的情感以及和朋友、家人一起擁有的回憶才會讓你真正地富有，并且那是每個人都可以創(chuàng)造的財富。endprint