It's true.Skateboarding doesn't seem like real work，but I'm proud of what I do.My parents never once questioned the practicality behind my passion，even when I had to scrape together gas money and regarded dinner at Taco Bell as a big night out.
I hope to pass on the same lesson to my children someday.Find the thing you love.My oldest son is an avid skater and he's really gifted for a 13-year-old，but there's a lot of pressure on him.He used to skate for endorsements，but now he brushes all that stuff aside.He just skates for fun and that's good enough for me.
You might not make it to the top，but if you are doing what you love，there is much more happiness there than being rich or famous.
虽然我有许多工作头衔，但是最让我骄傲的那个头衔还是“职业滑板手”。
我认为人们应该为自己所从事的工作而骄傲，即便那份工作会被社会大众蔑视或者误解。
我已经做了24年的职业滑板手了。虽然这份工作不仅帮我支付了房租，还为我带来了巨大的欢乐，但是大多数时候它还是被贴上了各种各样的标签，而且其中多数标签还相当地丑陋。很多人认为滑板是小孩子的玩意，是一种既浪费时间又危险的嗜好，甚至是一种犯罪。
在我17岁的时候，即成为职业滑板手的第三年，我的高中职业指导老师曾在全班同学面前责骂我不该马马虎虎地浏览工作手册。他告诉我说，如果我不明确地按照他的指导来做，日后我在工作间将永远无法做好工作。他告诫我，我不可能靠做一个滑板手来维持生计；在他看来，我的未来一片暗淡。
但是，即使是在那些光景惨淡的年月里，我也从未停止过练习滑板，也从未停止争取一个职业滑板手应该取得的进步。我也曾多次为做不出某个高难度动作而沮丧不已。但我渐渐意识到，要想掌握某样东西，唯一的方法就是坚持不懈——虽然膝盖会流血，脚踝会扭伤，还会受到人们的嘲笑。
近年来，滑板运动渐渐获得了主流大众的认可，但仍然有些老顽固对它持否定态度。而我所认识的职业滑板选手们都是社会中认真负责的人。他们中的许多人都身为父亲、房主、世界旅行家和成功的企业家。他们的发型和纹身都是我们文化的一部分，即使他们在家长教师协会会议上令其他家长大吃一惊。
现在我已经38岁了，已经为人丈夫，并有了三个孩子，也要承担一大串的责任和义务。虽然我有许多工作头衔——首席执行官、执行制作人、高级顾问、基金会主席、差劲的演员，但是最让我骄傲的那个头衔还是“职业滑板手”。我在调查表和海关单据上都不会忘记加上这个头衔，即便最后我常常会被请进中级安全检查站。
我最小的儿子所在的学前班的老师最近问他们，你们的爸爸是做什么工作的。很多孩子的回答是这样的：“我爸爸是卖钱的”或者“我爸爸是帮忙出谋划策的”。而我的儿子却回答说：“我从来没看见我爸爸工作过。”
这是一句大实话。玩滑板看起来并不像是一份真正的工作，但是我却为它而骄傲。我的父母亲从来没有质疑过我对滑板的狂热有没有现实意义，即使我曾经不得不艰难地凑集煤气费，并且把在塔可钟速食店里吃顿晚饭看得像过节一样。
我希望有一天能给我的孩子们上同样的一课——找到你喜欢的事情。我最大的孩子也热衷于玩滑板，13岁的他确实是很有天赋，但是他也同样面临着许多压力。以前他玩滑板是为了博取认可，但是现在他排除了一切杂念，只是为了乐趣而玩，这令我很高兴。
你可能永远都达不到顶峰，但是如果你正在做你喜欢的事情，那么与其中蕴藏的快乐相比，财富或名声又算得了什么呢？
Love and Music in Their Hearts
心灵之歌
For many years as I went about my weekend routine of doing all those chores around our house，I would regularly hear the sound of a piano playing and singing in the background.One of our neighbors has always had a love of music and obviously the family enjoyed gathering around the piano on the weekend.
Living in a fairly relaxed and quiet suburban area does have many pluses，however，this little bonus of weekend enjoyment was something I looked forward to，although at the time I never realised that I did.
Around three years ago the music and singing stopped and it wasn't until our neighbors told me of the troubles that their teenage son was dealing with that I came to realise why-the family was no longer a happy one.
Over the following months，I was to discover our neighbors'son had got involved with a group of other teenagers who indulged in late night partying，drinking，drugs and doing lots of other anti-social things.Such is peer pressure I guess，however，it didn't make it any easier for my two delightful neighbors who had always been such wonderful parents and who had brought some weekend enjoyment to me as I went about the household chores.
Over the last couple of years I have often spent time with them in an endeavour to be of some assistance to them in the time of trouble.I also had a couple of conversations with their son but nothing seemed to be working to get this young man back on track and his family，personal and schooling life suffered greatly.
Just over a year ago things started to change for the better and this young man who was now almost out of his teens started to come out of the horror period in his life.He went back to school to complete his high school studies and has now gone to commence studies to become a naturopath.From afar and as a neighbor it is great to see that at last everything is back on track for this young man and his parents.
From time to time all our immediate neighbors get together to celebrate those special yearly occasions.Just recently our neighbors with the son who had come back on track，invited us and a number of other families over for lunch to celebrate one of those special yearly occasions.
During the course of a relaxing and enjoyable afternoon I sat on the piano stool in front of the now silent piano.It is a piano with a highly polished black finish.I could not help but notice that there were some words and some images scratched onto the front of the piano，immediately above the keyboard.
The words said"I Hate You"and they appeared they may have been scratched onto the piano in a fit of rage as they were very rough and fairly deeply etched into the surface of the piano.An attempt had also been made to cover up these three words with a series of scratches crisscrossing over the top of the words.
Immediately underneath this crudely written and very sad statement were three images spread across the front of the piano.The images were three stick figures，two large ones and a slightly smaller one，followed by the shape of a heart and then a flower.
As I sat there I felt the urge to find out what these three words and three images meant，however，I did not feel it was appropriate to ask for fear that it someway related to past events that were best forgotten.The answer came without me even having to ask as our neighbor and mother of the young man saw me looking at the front of the piano and came over to sit next to me on the piano stool.
She explained with just a hint of tears in her eyes that her son had scratched the words onto the piano during a fit of anger as he struggled to come to terms with the pressures he was facing at one of the lowest points in his life.She also explained that they had then endeavoured to remove the words themselves but to no avail and could not afford the high cost of repairing the panel.Equally，at that time they did not know if he would do it again and so decided to leave it there.
