我作為唯一的English as a second language 的客人，也不能拂了主人的美意，就隻能趕鴨子上架，在參加聚會前的幾小時，匆匆翻譯了一篇我已經寫就的作文，是一個至1949年後，我家六十多年的故事。（今年剛開博不久，我已經把中文篇發在我的博客裏，《一個美國洋娃娃的故事-大妹回家》，隻是中英文兩篇略有不同，英文篇就貼在下麵，如您有興趣看中文篇，請查看我的博客，謝謝！）
聖誕聚會，燭光鮮花~美酒佳肴，朋友歡聚歌聲笑語。。終於輪到我~讀我的英文作文了。。
當我讀完我作文的最後一句，一屋子的人鴉雀無聲。我心裏納悶，老美聽懂了我這中國口音的英文了嗎？來美近三十年了，在公司上班時，英文交流基本沒出過什麽大問題。然而這種語言上的不自信，常還會悄然而至，防不勝防。突然， to my big surprise ，大家熱烈地鼓起掌來，還有幾位淚光閃閃。
老美朋友們的反應之強烈和激動是我出乎意料之外的，一位資深攝影評論家對我說，我的故事深深地觸動了她的內心，說著淚珠就滾落了下來。一位專利律師(A patent lawyer)過來給我一個大大的擁抱， 說她簡直不能想象我家那十年裏，家人被迫四散分離的悲哀。還有一位化學係的教授說要讓他的倆雙胞胎兒子也讀讀我的故事，要他們懂得珍惜現在所擁有的自由和幸福，還要學學我揣著五十美金到美國追夢打拚的精神。一位石油業工程師很是吃驚地說他稱得上博覽群書，竟然不知道中國那十年真正所發生的事情。 還有一兩位堅持要我投稿到星期六88.7FM， The Moth (a program,一個由作者本人朗讀自己所寫作的真實故事）。
有位退休中學老師問我是從中國哪裏來的，我說是從南京來的。好幾位老美朋友馬上說他們讀過《The Rape of Nanking》by Iris Chang (這裏特別為這位用她自己的年輕生命，來還原曆史殘酷真相的華裔女作家點上紀念心香），還說如果沒有讀過這本書，他們真不知道日本侵略軍在中國所犯下的，罄竹難書的滔天罪行。所以說真實文學的能量是巨大的，還有用心筆寫成的文字（即使隻有初中水平）也是可以打動人心，得到共鳴的，即使是用as a second language的英文與不同文化，不同語言的讀者或聽眾交流。。（這裏特別感謝網友高斯曼和風清fq的啟發和鼓勵）。
I believe Music is the gift from God. It is said, that music has no time barrier, no land barrier and no language barrier. Music is universal, meanwhile it is so personal, that the same music or songs can move and touch people’s heart in such different, delicate and unique ways. That is why I had the urge to tell my little story right after I listened to Irish singer Enya’s song ”Long, Long Journey”.
Damei, an American doll, was brought back to China by my mom from USA at the end of 1940s. Damei, in Chinese means elder sister. Damei’s Chinese pronunciation is the same as winter plum flower, which is one of Chinese peoples'favorite flowers, blossoming in late winter and early spring. For years, many Chinese girls were named as Mei since their parents wished that their little daughters could be like winter plum flower to survive strongly and blossom happily from hardships as cold and bare winters. Meanwhile, this word has the same pronunciation for “Rose” in Chinese, the beautiful American national flower and also many American girls were named as Rose since their parents believed that their dear daughters would grow up beautifully and prosperously just as morning new roses opened in sunshine days.
About 70 years ago, from Shanghai, China, my dad exchanged Chinese money for 15 dollars and sent it to my mom in USA (they were poor students and almost had nothing then) just before my mom finished her study in Vanderbilt University, Tennessee and was ready to go home to China. My dad asked my mom to buy a gift from my dad for herself as a souvenir for her unforgettable experience in USA. So my mom picked Damei in a department store in Nashville.
Before I took Damei back to my home in Texas. Damei always sat on a pile of clothes in my mom’s bedroom closet. If you opened the door of the closet, you could see Dame’s bright green eyes, brown curly hair with two little braids made by my older sister when she was a kid.
My mom said that when my older sister was just born, she was put with Damei side by side; Damei’s head was a little bigger than my older sister’s was. Also I remembered an old picture that my older sister was about one year old, sitting with Damei, she was pushing Damei away very hard with a frowning little face. On the picture, mom wrote “Dislike Damei?” I guessed my older sister was suddenly recalling and unhappy about the fact that Damei’s head size had beaten hers when she was just born (please see the picture below).
I still remembered during my childhood, my mom sometimes talked to us “Why you girls grew up so quickly, looked at Damei, she was always little and not naughty at all.”
Flying over mountains and crossing ocean, my mom took Damei home from America to China. It was a long, long journey and it took around two weeks for my mom and Damei to sail on a boat and at last they landed at the port of Shanghai. Since then, Damei became a member of my family. She saw my mom and my dad get married and saw my sister and me being born. When we were children, we took a lot of pictures with Damei, on which we smiled our big smiles and laughed happily. Damei saw me go to elementary school and my older sister got admitted into a very prestigious middle school in Nanjing.
Then in 1966, the disaster began。Mao, the communist party leader then，began the Cultural Revolution, and my parents were persecuted and put into separate labor camps simply because they were college educated and taken as political opponents of the regime. My sister and I were kicked out of Junior high and sent to the countryside to labor in the fields without enough food or basic necessities. We shared the same fate with millions of other Chinese youths with similar family backgrounds to ours. During the ten years of the Cultural Revolution, schools were closed, there were no books (except one, Mao’s red book), no music, no laughter, only tears, persecution and suffering. Damei was the only one left in the home. She was bravely sitting on a pile of clothes in my mom’s bedroom closet. She was waiting patiently for her family members come home one by one gradually - we finally all came home by 1976. I bet Damei was very happy to see we all survived that horrible 10 years’ catastrophes and had eventually come back home. After the Cultural Revolution, we started a new life again, everyone worked hard, trying to catch up with the 10 years’ tremendous losses. I worked in an electronical parts assembly line during daytime and went to school to learn English and other high school courses during night. I eventually earned a college degree later. My mom devoted her heart and all of her efforts to revive Chinese nursing education field and she worked hard until she retired at 79 years of age.
At the beginning of the 80s, my mom was invited to Boston by her American nursing colleagues to learn and introduce more modern nursing technology and concepts to China. I knew Damei definitely wanted to go back to America with mom to see her homeland again after she left so long ago, but Damei knew her duties, she just faithfully sat on a pile of clothes in my mom’s bedroom closet to accompany my dad while we were all out of the house, busy with our working and studying. During the Cultural Revolution, my dad was badly tortured mentally and physically and lost his health. He was bedridden for 9 years before he lost his battle in 1985. Anyway, my dad did live to the time when he could listen to his favorite classic music as he wished without being fearful of getting into any trouble (any western music was forbidden during that ten years) and the classic music lifted my dad’s spirit and took his imagination to those beautiful lands, mountains and rivers where my dad was too sick to go. Damei told me that my dad listened to the 10 world’s most famous violin concertos and Beethoven’s 9 symphonies day by day while he lay on bed by himself with only Damei present.
Since I was a child. I always wondered what kind of American homeland Damei came from. Even during those cold, hungry and exhausting labor days in that poor village, my imagination about America always warmed my heart and brought me some hope and strength to get through my intolerable hardships. When Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger visited China in early 70s, my parents came back home from labor camps for a short visit, my sister and I came home to see them. My family had a secret celebration, my parents and Damei sang together “America the Beautiful” very quietly almost like whispers, scaring others might hear and report us to the red guards. I could never forget that night, their faces were lit up and their eyes were shining with hope while they sang.
America The Beautiful with Lyrics
At the end of 1980s, with 50 dollars in my pocket and Damei’s words “if you can dream it, you can do it”, like my mom, I was flying over mountains and crossing oceans to go to America for a higher education and my American dream. At the beginning, in order to survive, I worked at all kinds of low paying jobs (waitress, baby sitter, housekeeper, and laundress). I tried to save each penny for my school, for a long time, I only ate 0.29/lb. Chicken legs, the cheapest food in the grocery store until one day I really had enough of chicken and even tasted the chicken poo smell from my food.
While I was striving for realizing my American dream, Damei was quietly and patiently sitting on a pile of clothes in my mom’s bedroom closet to keep company with my mom every day and night, waiting for my monthly overseas letters or the very few phone calls (international phone call was very expensive then) to tell mom her daughter was doing fine in America. Damei told me how happy my mom was after I eventually got my master degree in Accounting with a 3.95 GPA and how proud she was after I passed my Texas CPA license exam. After I brought AE home to meet my mom , Damei secretly passed on my mom’s opinion and advice that AE was a very kind and honest man, I must treasure his love and must not bully him in any way.
My mom passed away peacefully at home when she was 91 years old. I knew Damei must be sad and cry for a long, long time. Damei eventually stopped crying and told me that my parents were happy together in heaven forever now. However, Damei was still sitting on a pile of clothes in my mom’s bedroom closet, waiting for me, the far-away daughter come home to go to the green mountain where my parent’s ashes spread out and paid them a daughter’s final love and respect.
Just before I was about to fly back to Texas after my last visit to my hometown in Nanjing, Damei decided to say a Goodbye to her Chinese family and friends and fly back to Texas with me, back to her home land after she left it so many years ago.
After taking such a long, long journey to China, then back to America, Damei at last settled in our home in Texas. During one of our visits to Bill (AE’s father) in Dallas, we took Damei to see him. Bill was an old brave American marine guy and a tough vice president in a big electronical company during his career. By the way, Bill was also from Tennessee and had graduated from Vanderbilt, and so was Damei’s “Lao xiang” (hometown next-door neighbor in Chinese). After I told Bill about Damei’s story, Bill was silent for a while. I thought he might take a nap when I was telling the story, but to AE’s and my surprise, we saw a drop of transparent tear slowly flowing down Bill’s weather-beaten cheek, eventually, he sighed softly and said “ it was really a touching story”.
這是我的一位在大學教小提琴的英國教授朋友（她的名字叫玫瑰）讀了我《Long Long Journey》後，寄給我的謝卡。
我姐的隨拍~金陵梅春
我姐的詩
梅嶺春色
春
如約
姍姍至
梅嶺花開
綠了江南岸
更幾番風雨後
姹紫嫣紅競風流
看不盡人間好景色
都進眼底心頭永駐留
此情需寄直到海角天涯
思
悠悠
更念想
親朋好友
何日同聚首
上高樓放眼望
春濃原鄉微朦裏
東風熙微草長鶯飛
十分晴柔更情懷無限
無酒人已醉放歌九霄雲
謝謝您的閱讀和時間，原創拙文，請勿轉載，Thanks again
小溪姐姐 發表評論於
回複 '吳友明' 的評論 : 謝謝插兄的鼓勵和支持。
小溪姐姐 發表評論於
回複 '花甲老翁' 的評論 : 謝謝您的光臨和鼓勵，您多保重。
小溪姐姐 發表評論於
回複 'yy56' 的評論 : 謝謝聞香妹妹香氣馥鬱，令人暖心的留言，很珍惜！
小溪姐姐 發表評論於
回複 '南山鬆' 的評論 : 謝謝詩人鬆鬆溫馨留言，真是很喜歡你充滿快樂，童趣的好詩！
南山鬆 發表評論於
很感人的故事，小溪姐姐的中英文都那麽好，謝謝姐姐分享，問好！
yy56 發表評論於
It is a such touching story that you should send to a magazine to publish.
回複 '悟空孫' 的評論 : Dear Sir,
Thank you so much for your visit to my blog, your time reading my story and your precious comments, which really meant a lot to my generation and me.
I appreciated that AlaskaLilyD already helped me to explain the part of my story which confused you.
I feel honored to get to know you further by visiting your blog and reading your great articles more and later.
Wish you and your family all the best.
回複 '悟空孫' 的評論 : 我 volunteer 替小溪姐姐回答您的問題：
“Just a bit unclear here: My dad asked my mom to buy a gift from my dad for herself as a souvenir for her unforgettable experience in USA. Maybe it's a typo.”
My dad asked my mom to buy a gift for herself (on behalf of/from my dad) as a souvenir for her experience in the USA. 我爸爸要我媽媽替他（我爸爸）給她自己買個禮物，作為難忘的美國之行的紀念。
I don’t think there’s any typo here.
A great story, although a bit sad, yet touching and inspiring! It could be made into a movie script! Well done!
Just a bit unclear here: My dad asked my mom to buy a gift from my dad for herself as a souvenir for her unforgettable experience in USA. Maybe it's a typo...
雙魚城 發表評論於
聽著《long, long journey》，輕聲朗讀著你的文章，整顆心都被溫暖了。。。。。小溪姐姐周末愉快！
回複 '癡一生' 的評論 : Dear Sir,
I cannot think of all the words that would be enough to express my gratitude to you in response to your kind and sincere comments. I was so touched and moved by your warm comments, those words bring tears to my eyes each time I read them.
From reading the stories in your blog, I knew you were also a Zhiqing. I thought you were a few years younger than I was. We apparently shared some similar experiences in our lives. I especially appreciated your praise and encouragement as a Zhiqing from my generation, which really means much to me.
I did not reach the triumphs as you did (I admired that you got your PhD and were successful in your career). Thank you again for your kind words. However, I did one thing important, I thought, in that I did make my mom happy by getting an American degree and survived in this country.
I earnestly hope that you have fully recovered from your surgery and you have felt energetic enough each day to enjoy your life now. I have a lot of respect for your wife and your daughter, so please say “hello” to them; your family’s unconditional love did help you through your hardest time in your life. My husband and I will continue to pray for you and your family.
Also, please let me know if you and your family ever come to visit in Houston, as my husband and I would like to entertain you.
回複 '簡寧寧' 的評論 : What a nice surprise to me seeing your visiting and your very touching comments.To be honest, right after I read your comment, I was a little puzzled why you (a very successful young lawyer - I knew you a little bit from 夏圓’s social circle) liked my story so much (a story from the older generation). With this puzzlement, I went to visit your blog and read a few of your fantastic and funny articles and found my answer. Even though you belong to another younger generation, you hold some precious values (the same as mine) because of your kindness and sympathy, which lead you to understand more about us from an older and very different generation. I have already marked your website as one of my favorites and I will enjoy reading each of your articles. Thanks again for your heart-warming words, which is a big encouragement to me in my writing. Wish you and your family all the best.”
It is a very touching,gripping, inspiring , and personal triumphant story.
Because of the cultural revolution,the author was sent to the remote countryside, separating from her family and going through the hardship at 16, such an early age. It is the family inheritance and the author’s strong will, she not only survived the hardship, but also triumphed it by entering a college.
After graduated from the college, she went to America for advanced education. In order to fulfill her American dream, she worked very hard, doing different low level jobs at first, and eventually finished the master degree in accounting, then passed the CPA test.
The author uses Damei, the doll, as personification of her family. Damei in Chinese symbolizes both the grace and tenancy. She not only had a long journey, but also witnessed the family’s long journey interwoven with joy and sorrow. The story brought down tears from Bill, her father in law and her mother’ alumni, also among the readers like us.
Ability may get someone to the top, but it takes the character to keep her there. It is your character that leads your triumph!
暖冬cool夏 發表評論於
回複 '小溪姐姐' 的評論 : 不用再回了，小溪姐姐，我很高興又多了一個寫英文的同伴(千萬不要叫老師，我羞愧地要躲起來了),你的生活閱曆比我豐富，文筆比我好，堅持寫下去！我們互相鼓勵打氣！替我謝謝你先生AE,I greatly appreciate his compliment and kindness. 祝福你們！
齊雲山 發表評論於
真實感人的文字會超越種族和語種，引起大家的共鳴。謝謝小溪姐姐的好文。
簡寧寧 發表評論於
What a beautiful, touching story! My eyes were full of tears reading it.
回複 '京燕花園' 的評論 : Thank you so much for your reading Damei’s story again. Your warm and sincere words really melt my heart. I felt so lucky meeting you and other friends here. Wish you and your family all the best, especially to your beautiful, smart and young daughter. Happy Mother’s Day to you, too.
小溪姐姐 發表評論於
回複 '康賽歐' 的評論 : 謝謝康康Always的支持和鼓勵。
京燕花園 發表評論於
I loved Damei's story when I read it a few months ago. On this Mother's Day, reading the story again in your fabulous English version brought me to tears. Your family had suffered so much during culture revolution as did billions of others, yet you kept the hope. I am going to forward your story to my daughter who is lucky to have many dolls, and now she is a college student.
Happy Mother's Day, 小溪姐姐。
小溪姐姐 發表評論於
回複 '暖冬cool夏' 的評論 : Hi, I am AE, husband of Xiao Xi. I have always liked this story and am glad you got something from it as well. I am very impressed by your English. Sometimes Xiao Xi helps me with my writing as well. She is a good storyteller.
蓮盆籽 發表評論於
So sweet and so pretty!
二十年前我去中國出差，帶回兩個中國娃娃，後來小妹會坐了，放在她身旁拍照，和你家一樣，哈哈。
小溪姐姐母親節快樂！
Bravo to your touching story of Damei, a personified doll who went through thick and thin with your family, your mom, your Dad and you. Solute to your parents, who braved the hardship and ordeal with steely mind. Solute to people like you, a generation whose youth was buried in pain, but you tided it over with bravery and never gave in to the fate!
This is a very well written piece in English. Congratulations on your first step, and your journey to recount your stories, told and untold, in English! We are here for you.
回複 '魯鈍' 的評論 : Thanks a million for your visit to my story and your precious comment, which I really treasure. I already made the related change according to your advice. You are right; China's national flower has not been decided yet. You did help me to avoid a mistake caused by my carelessness.
I just went to visit your blog; apparently, you are an English expert. I already marked your website as one of my favorites. I will visit you often later and learn from you. Thanks again.
木愉 發表評論於
想必你雖然下了鄉，但深厚的家學尚存，所以英文也沒有完全陌生。英文表述感人至深。
柳溪郎 發表評論於
寫得太感人了。故事感人，文筆優美。
魯鈍 發表評論於
Thank you so much for such a touching story. I was moved to tears by your writings. I learned something from your writing that in order to make a story vivid, you need to use some editorial skills to make the story more acceptable. I mean the name of Damei, you said that Damei is the flower of China's national flower. As I know，China has not decided the national flow yet. I guess what you meant was 臘梅. It is a no harmful change, but is more acceptable by American people.
Happy mother's day.
我作為唯一的English as a second language 的客人，也不能拂了主人的美意，就隻能趕鴨子上架，在參加聚會前的幾小時，匆匆翻譯了一篇我已經寫就的作文，是一個至1949年後，我家六十多年的故事。（今年剛開博不久，我已經把中文篇發在我的博客裏，《一個美國洋娃娃的故事-大妹回家》，隻是中英文兩篇略有不同，英文篇就貼在下麵，如您有興趣看中文篇，請查看我的博客，謝謝！）
聖誕聚會，燭光鮮花~美酒佳肴，朋友歡聚歌聲笑語。。終於輪到我~讀我的英文作文了。。
當我讀完我作文的最後一句，一屋子的人鴉雀無聲。我心裏納悶，老美聽懂了我這中國口音的英文了嗎？來美近三十年了，在公司上班時，英文交流基本沒出過什麽大問題。然而這種語言上的不自信，常還會悄然而至，防不勝防。突然， to my big surprise ，大家熱烈地鼓起掌來，還有幾位淚光閃閃。
老美朋友們的反應之強烈和激動是我出乎意料之外的，一位資深攝影評論家對我說，我的故事深深地觸動了她的內心，說著淚珠就滾落了下來。一位專利律師(A patent lawyer)過來給我一個大大的擁抱， 說她簡直不能想象我家那十年裏，家人被迫四散分離的悲哀。還有一位化學係的教授說要讓他的倆雙胞胎兒子也讀讀我的故事，要他們懂得珍惜現在所擁有的自由和幸福，還要學學我揣著五十美金到美國追夢打拚的精神。一位石油業工程師很是吃驚地說他稱得上博覽群書，竟然不知道中國那十年真正所發生的事情。 還有一兩位堅持要我投稿到星期六88.7FM， The Moth (a program,一個由作者本人朗讀自己所寫作的真實故事）。
有位退休中學老師問我是從中國哪裏來的，我說是從南京來的。好幾位老美朋友馬上說他們讀過《The Rape of Nanking》by Iris Chang (這裏特別為這位用她自己的年輕生命，來還原曆史殘酷真相的華裔女作家點上紀念心香），還說如果沒有讀過這本書，他們真不知道日本侵略軍在中國所犯下的，罄竹難書的滔天罪行。所以說真實文學的能量是巨大的，還有用心筆寫成的文字（即使隻有初中水平）也是可以打動人心，得到共鳴的，即使是用as a second language的英文與不同文化，不同語言的讀者或聽眾交流。。（這裏特別感謝網友高斯曼和風清fq的啟發和鼓勵）。
I believe Music is the gift from God. It is said, that music has no time barrier, no land barrier and no language barrier. Music is universal, meanwhile it is so personal, that the same music or songs can move and touch people’s heart in such different, delicate and unique ways. That is why I had the urge to tell my little story right after I listened to Irish singer Enya’s song ”Long, Long Journey”.
Damei, an American doll, was brought back to China by my mom from USA at the end of 1940s. Damei, in Chinese means elder sister. Damei’s Chinese pronunciation is the same as winter plum flower, which is one of Chinese peoples'favorite flowers, blossoming in late winter and early spring. For years, many Chinese girls were named as Mei since their parents wished that their little daughters could be like winter plum flower to survive strongly and blossom happily from hardships as cold and bare winters. Meanwhile, this word has the same pronunciation for “Rose” in Chinese, the beautiful American national flower and also many American girls were named as Rose since their parents believed that their dear daughters would grow up beautifully and prosperously just as morning new roses opened in sunshine days.
About 70 years ago, from Shanghai, China, my dad exchanged Chinese money for 15 dollars and sent it to my mom in USA (they were poor students and almost had nothing then) just before my mom finished her study in Vanderbilt University, Tennessee and was ready to go home to China. My dad asked my mom to buy a gift from my dad for herself as a souvenir for her unforgettable experience in USA. So my mom picked Damei in a department store in Nashville.
Before I took Damei back to my home in Texas. Damei always sat on a pile of clothes in my mom’s bedroom closet. If you opened the door of the closet, you could see Dame’s bright green eyes, brown curly hair with two little braids made by my older sister when she was a kid.
My mom said that when my older sister was just born, she was put with Damei side by side; Damei’s head was a little bigger than my older sister’s was. Also I remembered an old picture that my older sister was about one year old, sitting with Damei, she was pushing Damei away very hard with a frowning little face. On the picture, mom wrote “Dislike Damei?” I guessed my older sister was suddenly recalling and unhappy about the fact that Damei’s head size had beaten hers when she was just born (please see the picture below).
I still remembered during my childhood, my mom sometimes talked to us “Why you girls grew up so quickly, looked at Damei, she was always little and not naughty at all.”
Flying over mountains and crossing ocean, my mom took Damei home from America to China. It was a long, long journey and it took around two weeks for my mom and Damei to sail on a boat and at last they landed at the port of Shanghai. Since then, Damei became a member of my family. She saw my mom and my dad get married and saw my sister and me being born. When we were children, we took a lot of pictures with Damei, on which we smiled our big smiles and laughed happily. Damei saw me go to elementary school and my older sister got admitted into a very prestigious middle school in Nanjing.
Then in 1966, the disaster began。Mao, the communist party leader then，began the Cultural Revolution, and my parents were persecuted and put into separate labor camps simply because they were college educated and taken as political opponents of the regime. My sister and I were kicked out of Junior high and sent to the countryside to labor in the fields without enough food or basic necessities. We shared the same fate with millions of other Chinese youths with similar family backgrounds to ours. During the ten years of the Cultural Revolution, schools were closed, there were no books (except one, Mao’s red book), no music, no laughter, only tears, persecution and suffering. Damei was the only one left in the home. She was bravely sitting on a pile of clothes in my mom’s bedroom closet. She was waiting patiently for her family members come home one by one gradually - we finally all came home by 1976. I bet Damei was very happy to see we all survived that horrible 10 years’ catastrophes and had eventually come back home. After the Cultural Revolution, we started a new life again, everyone worked hard, trying to catch up with the 10 years’ tremendous losses. I worked in an electronical parts assembly line during daytime and went to school to learn English and other high school courses during night. I eventually earned a college degree later. My mom devoted her heart and all of her efforts to revive Chinese nursing education field and she worked hard until she retired at 79 years of age.
At the beginning of the 80s, my mom was invited to Boston by her American nursing colleagues to learn and introduce more modern nursing technology and concepts to China. I knew Damei definitely wanted to go back to America with mom to see her homeland again after she left so long ago, but Damei knew her duties, she just faithfully sat on a pile of clothes in my mom’s bedroom closet to accompany my dad while we were all out of the house, busy with our working and studying. During the Cultural Revolution, my dad was badly tortured mentally and physically and lost his health. He was bedridden for 9 years before he lost his battle in 1985. Anyway, my dad did live to the time when he could listen to his favorite classic music as he wished without being fearful of getting into any trouble (any western music was forbidden during that ten years) and the classic music lifted my dad’s spirit and took his imagination to those beautiful lands, mountains and rivers where my dad was too sick to go. Damei told me that my dad listened to the 10 world’s most famous violin concertos and Beethoven’s 9 symphonies day by day while he lay on bed by himself with only Damei present.
Since I was a child. I always wondered what kind of American homeland Damei came from. Even during those cold, hungry and exhausting labor days in that poor village, my imagination about America always warmed my heart and brought me some hope and strength to get through my intolerable hardships. When Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger visited China in early 70s, my parents came back home from labor camps for a short visit, my sister and I came home to see them. My family had a secret celebration, my parents and Damei sang together “America the Beautiful” very quietly almost like whispers, scaring others might hear and report us to the red guards. I could never forget that night, their faces were lit up and their eyes were shining with hope while they sang.
America The Beautiful with Lyrics
At the end of 1980s, with 50 dollars in my pocket and Damei’s words “if you can dream it, you can do it”, like my mom, I was flying over mountains and crossing oceans to go to America for a higher education and my American dream. At the beginning, in order to survive, I worked at all kinds of low paying jobs (waitress, baby sitter, housekeeper, and laundress). I tried to save each penny for my school, for a long time, I only ate 0.29/lb. Chicken legs, the cheapest food in the grocery store until one day I really had enough of chicken and even tasted the chicken poo smell from my food.
While I was striving for realizing my American dream, Damei was quietly and patiently sitting on a pile of clothes in my mom’s bedroom closet to keep company with my mom every day and night, waiting for my monthly overseas letters or the very few phone calls (international phone call was very expensive then) to tell mom her daughter was doing fine in America. Damei told me how happy my mom was after I eventually got my master degree in Accounting with a 3.95 GPA and how proud she was after I passed my Texas CPA license exam. After I brought AE home to meet my mom , Damei secretly passed on my mom’s opinion and advice that AE was a very kind and honest man, I must treasure his love and must not bully him in any way.
My mom passed away peacefully at home when she was 91 years old. I knew Damei must be sad and cry for a long, long time. Damei eventually stopped crying and told me that my parents were happy together in heaven forever now. However, Damei was still sitting on a pile of clothes in my mom’s bedroom closet, waiting for me, the far-away daughter come home to go to the green mountain where my parent’s ashes spread out and paid them a daughter’s final love and respect.
Just before I was about to fly back to Texas after my last visit to my hometown in Nanjing, Damei decided to say a Goodbye to her Chinese family and friends and fly back to Texas with me, back to her home land after she left it so many years ago.
After taking such a long, long journey to China, then back to America, Damei at last settled in our home in Texas. During one of our visits to Bill (AE’s father) in Dallas, we took Damei to see him. Bill was an old brave American marine guy and a tough vice president in a big electronical company during his career. By the way, Bill was also from Tennessee and had graduated from Vanderbilt, and so was Damei’s “Lao xiang” (hometown next-door neighbor in Chinese). After I told Bill about Damei’s story, Bill was silent for a while. I thought he might take a nap when I was telling the story, but to AE’s and my surprise, we saw a drop of transparent tear slowly flowing down Bill’s weather-beaten cheek, eventually, he sighed softly and said “ it was really a touching story”.
這是我的一位在大學教小提琴的英國教授朋友（她的名字叫玫瑰）讀了我《Long Long Journey》後，寄給我的謝卡。
