My Aunty Song-Ye



Mom at Alae Cemetery last weekend, in advance of Memorial Day, to pay respects to her older sister, Song-Ye, who died at age 6.

Mom, nearly 2 years younger, recalls that she was a mischievous, rascal girl, unlike her big sister, who was a very good girl.

Song-Ye, who had been in bed for several days with a sore throat, bade her sister to get their mother.

No, I won't, Mom told the ailing sibling.

But later Mom sought out her parent, who was busy. She told her second-oldest child that she would see Song-Ye after she was done feeding the pigs.

Mom next remembers Grandma taking Song-Ye by bus to the doctor's office, carrying her daughter on her back.

Then, Grandma spent many days, crying.

Mom remembers that one day, she realized that Song-Ye wasn't with them. She asked her father.

She went someplace very far, far away, he told her.

Then Mom became the oldest child, because of Song-Ye's passing, and consequently assumed duties of caring and responsibility for her eight siblings that she carries unto this day. ( Originally posted to my Facebook page)

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