人物：他们的爱情故事(3)（在线收听）

After church we parted ways, and I met my dearest friend, Ashley, and I remember I told her, 'This is it. This is the man I'm going to marry.'" Peter remembers the day as well.

做完礼拜，我们分开了。我遇见了我最亲爱的朋友艾希礼。我记得我对她说，'就是这个了。这就是我要嫁的男人。’”彼得也记得那一天。

"I was waiting outside the church for you, and you walked up wearing that necklace with the daisy on it." Some time passed before he was as certain as she was about their future.

“我在教堂外面等你，你戴着那条上面有雏菊的项链走了过来。”过了一段时间，他才像她一样对他们的未来充满信心。

Then "at Mariska's 40th-birthday party, I saw her with all the people that she loved around her," he recalls.

然后“在玛丽丝卡的40岁生日聚会上，我看到她和她爱的人在一起，”他回忆道。

"It was like seeing someone in the soil she was designed to be planted in, which was just this abundance of joy and this abundance of love. And I thought, 'I want to be a part of that soil.' That was the moment."

“这就像看到一个人出现在她注定要扎根的土地上，这就是如此丰富的喜悦和爱。我想，‘我想成为那片土地的一部分。’就是那个时刻。”

The pair wed in Santa Barbara in 2004; two years into their married life, Mariska's father died from multiple myeloma at 80.

两人于2004年在圣巴巴拉结婚；婚后两年，玛丽丝卡的父亲死于多发性骨髓瘤，享年80岁。

"I was very close to my dad, and that was such a painful time," Hargitay says through tears.

“我和爸爸非常亲密，那是一段非常痛苦的时光，”哈吉塔伊流着泪说。

"But it was also such an incredibly fortifying time, to feel so deeply shored up by Peter. I remember thinking, 'Oh, okay. I can rely on this person,' who magically knew what to do.

“但这也是一个令人难以置信的时刻，让我感到彼得给了我如此深的支持。我记得当时在想，‘哦，好吧。我可以信赖这个人，他竟然知道该怎么做。

You really see what somebody is made of when they have to step up and take care of you." Mariska gave birth to August in 2006.

当一个人不得不站出来照顾你的时候，你就会真正明白他是什么样的人。”玛丽丝卡在2006年生了奥古斯特。

The couple adopted daughter Amaya in 2011 and four months later were matched with Andrew.

2011年，这对夫妇收养了女儿阿玛亚，四个月后，他们与安德鲁配对。

"I know that families can be built in all sorts of different ways, that there isn't just one way to create a family and that it isn't just about biology."

“我知道，家庭可以用各种不同的方式建立，组建家庭的方式不止一种，也不仅仅是生物学的问题。”

Part of making it all work, Peter believes, goes back to that first night they spent together, talking late into the night.

彼得相信，成功的部分原因可以追溯到他们一起度过的第一个晚上，聊到深夜。

"Nietzsche says that marriage is a conversation, and it has been one long, beautiful conversation," he says. "We started talking then, and we still haven't stopped talking."

“尼采说婚姻是一场对话，这是一场漫长而美好的对话，”他说。“我们从那时开始交谈，到现在还没有停止。”

"Of course, that conversation can have many different tones," his wife wisecracks.

“当然，这种对话可以有很多不同的语调，”他的妻子打趣道。

"No matter," says Peter. "It's a weird way to phrase it, but I met you, and I knew we had business together. For a lifetime." That word—"lifetime"—is not one that either of them takes lightly.

“没关系，”彼得说。“这样说很奇怪，但我遇见你了，我知道我们有事要做。一辈子。”“一辈子”这个词，他们两人都不是随口说说。

One key to their relationship's endurance has been the understanding that marriage is a permanent promise to each other and that the going may get rough, but there is no backing out.

他们关系持久的一个关键是要明白，婚姻是对彼此的永久承诺，可能会遇到困难，但没有退路。

"When I asked Mariska to marry me, I had never asked anyone else before," Peter says.

“当我向玛丽丝卡求婚时，我从来没有向任何人求婚过，”彼得说。

"And as I said the words, I was struck by the immensity of what I was asking her for: Will you spend the rest of your life with me? It is such an enormous question and required such a huge degree of trust on her part."

当我说这句话的时候，我被我向她提出的巨大要求所震撼：你愿意和我共度余生吗？这是一个巨大的问题，需要她的高度信任。”

Mariska has only one minor quibble. "But, see, that's why now, every 5 or 10 years when I ask Peter if I can renew our vows, he says the same thing—" "I say no," Peter cuts in. "I meant it the first time."

玛丽丝卡只有一个小问题。“但是，你看，这就是为什么现在，每隔5年或10年，当我问彼得我是否可以重温我们的誓言时，他都会说同样的话——”“我说不，”彼得插嘴说。“我第一次是认真的。”

Besides, if they ever really need a reminder of how much joy their life together has brought them? All they have to do is look up and count the balloons.

此外，他们真的需要提醒自己，他们在一起的生活给他们带来了多大的快乐吗？他们所要做的就是抬头数气球。