By Pingting / May 23, 2026
有一天放学回家的路上，
突然有一辆车一下子冲了出来。
我当场吓了一跳。
于是忍不住对那个司机来了一句：
“不要再让我看到你！”
虽然我自己也知道，
反正他根本听不到。
……
这时，
那个司机的车已经开到了我的右前方。
结果旁边娃儿突然观察了一句：
“他正在玩手机！”
接着又特别认真地补了一句：
“你不会再见到他的！”
……
我一听就知道：
娃儿说得其实没错。
但又莫名觉得：
这娃怎么这么耿直。
简直像什么：
“耿直男孩”。
我心里开始偷偷笑。
于是我顺口回了一句：
“也是，也是。
People come, people go.”
结果说完以后，
连我自己都愣了一下。
因为我也不知道这个短语到底是从哪里冒出来的。
脑子里只想着：
“Money come, money go.”
那改成 people，
好像也行。
……
结果没想到，
娃儿听完后，
突然感慨了一句：
“就像去年的同学 Noemi 一样。
听说她去了 Washington，
以后就再也见不到她了。”
我说：
“是啊。
所以我们要珍惜当下。
因为我们不知道，
跟哪一个人的见面，
就是最后一面了。”
这时候，
我们两个人都突然陷入了一阵深思和感慨。
接着他又继续说：
“还有两位老师，
Ms. S 和 Ms. B 退休了，
以后也再也见不到了！”
……
我这才突然意识到：
原来我刚刚随口对司机说的一句话，
居然让他联想到这么多事情。
而且这些事情，
他其实一直都默默记在心里。
于是我开始安慰他：
“其实也不一定啦！
比如之前幼儿园的老师，
我们后来不就在 Chick-fil-A 遇到她了吗？”
我继续一本正经地告诉他：
“而且你以后如果很出名，
在电视上出现。
或者 Noemi 很出名，
在电视上出现。
那你们可能会突然说：
‘我知道他耶！
他是我小时候的同学！’”
“然后你们还可以通过邮件，
或者社交媒体重新联系上。”
接着，
我开始假装自己是 Noemi，
模仿她看到电视上的阿学时的反应：
“这不是阿学吗？！
这不是我的小学同学吗？！
不行！
我一定要用 Instagram 联系到他！”
虽然说实话，
我现在其实已经不太记得 Noemi 长什么样了。
……
结果娃儿听完后，
哈哈大笑。
然后特别嫌弃地来了一句：
“我才不认识她呢！”
婷妈的亲子日常 创作于 2026.05.23
原创发布： tingtingma.com
写给孩子，也写给正在成长的大人。
未经授权，请勿转载。
《Tingma’s Parenting Diary｜270. People Come, People Go》
By Pingting / May 23, 2026
One day on the way home after school,
a car suddenly shot out in front of us.
I got startled immediately.
So I couldn’t help blurting out to the driver:
“I better never see you again!”
Even though I knew perfectly well
that he couldn’t hear me anyway.
…
At that moment,
the car had already moved ahead to the front-right side of us.
Then my son suddenly observed:
“He’s using his phone!”
And then he added very seriously:
“You’ll never see him again.”
…
The moment I heard that,
I knew he technically wasn’t wrong.
But at the same time,
I suddenly thought:
Why is this child so painfully straightforward?
He’s basically like some kind of:
“Straightforward Boy.”
I started secretly laughing to myself.
So I casually replied:
“True, true.
People come, people go.”
But the second I said it,
even I paused for a moment.
Because honestly,
I have no idea where that phrase suddenly came from.
My brain was only thinking:
“Money come, money go.”
So I figured,
switching “money” to “people”
kind of worked too.
…
But unexpectedly,
after hearing that,
my son suddenly sighed and said:
“Like my classmate Noemi from last year.
I heard she moved to Washington.
We’ll probably never see her again.”
I replied:
“Yeah.
That’s why we should cherish the present moment.
Because we never know
which meeting with someone
might end up being the last one.”
At that moment,
both of us suddenly fell into a quiet moment of reflection and emotion.
Then he continued:
“And two teachers too—
Ms. S and Ms. B retired.
We’ll probably never see them again either.”
…
That’s when I suddenly realized:
a random sentence I casually said to a reckless driver
had somehow triggered all these thoughts in him.
And apparently,
he had quietly been carrying all of these feelings in his heart.
So I tried comforting him:
“Well, not necessarily!
Remember your preschool teacher?
We ended up randomly seeing her later at Chick-fil-A, didn’t we?”
Then I continued telling him very seriously:
“And besides,
what if one day you become super famous
and appear on TV?
Or maybe Noemi becomes famous instead.
Then one of you might suddenly say:
‘Wait!
I KNOW him!
He was my classmate when we were little!’”
“And then you could reconnect again
through email
or social media.”
Then,
I started pretending to be Noemi,
acting out how she would react if she saw Axue on television:
“WAIT—
Isn’t that Axue?!
Isn’t that my elementary school classmate?!
No way!
I HAVE to find him on Instagram!”
Although honestly,
I can barely even remember what Noemi looks like anymore.
…
After hearing all that,
my son burst out laughing.
Then, with complete disgust in his voice, he said:
“I don’t even know her!”
Tingma’s Parenting Diary
Written on May 23, 2026
Originally published at: tingtingma.com
Written for my child, and for the adults who are still growing.
Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
Originally written in Chinese by the author.
This English version was translated with the assistance of ChatGPT.