Song-Bie

By Angelina Ding
Inspiration taken from my mom and I’s story and the 2013 Boston Marathon attack.

CHAPTER ONE: THE START OF IT ALL

I was watching a movie called “My Memories of Old Beijing” for the first time in China.
The movie included a song called Song-Bie, which meant Farewell. The song was
trending in China at that time, which made me fall in love with it.

I loved the song, I hummed it everyday throughout my elementary and middle school
years. Even in high school and after college, it was still one of my favorite songs ever,
and I had lots of memories from it, good and bad. It reminded me of when I had tons of
school work and would get stressed out, it reminded me of how proud I was when I
graduated high school with grades ten times higher than I expected my grades to be, it
also reminded me of when we had to give my old cat, Mao, away to a friend because
we were moving.

When I graduated college, I married my high school sweetheart and we both moved to
the United States of America to Lexington, Massachusetts, to settle there and have
kids. We were 22, fresh out of college. We ended up having two daughters, Danielle and
Sophia. Sophia is 11 and Danielle is 8. Song-Bie was still one of my favorite songs, but I
had too much work and barely had any free time, so I couldn’t have the privilege of
singing songs and having fun like I used to. I enrolled Danielle in a singing class when
she was 7, but Sophia didn’t want to join because all the girls were younger than her.

CHAPTER TWO: HERE COMES TROUBLE

Our family decided to watch the boston marathon one day on April 15, 2013. Danielle
was humming a song while watching, and the melody she was humming sounded oddly
familiar.

“Danielle, what song were you humming??” I asked once she finished.

“Oh, it’s our new song for singing, Song-Bie, I think.” she said, “I really like it, I
memorized all the lyrics but I don’t really know what they mean.” she said. “Really?

That was my favorite song when I was little too!” I said. I was so shocked. My daughter’s
favorite song was also my favorite song when I was her age.

Our family was near the end, and just as another runner passed, I heard loud exploding
sounds right in front of me. People were also running for their lives. Before I could even
see what was going on, everything around me went black.

I woke up on a hospital bed, with no one around me. I frantically started looking
around, and I realized I was not wearing any casts and I did not feel injured. This did not
calm me down. Where were my daughters and husband..?

Finally, a doctor walked in. “Mrs. Wang, so glad to see you awa-” before he could finish,
I yelled a million questions at him. “Where are my daughters? Where is my husband?
What happened? Is my family okay?” I said frantically.

“You and your husband are perfectly fine but you do have a few burn marks and
bruises from falling, and as for your daughters, Danielle also has a few burn marks and
bruises while Sophia…” The doctor’s voice started trailing off. My heart fell to the
ground. “What about Sophia?” I said.

“Sophia has a concussion and broke her leg. We believe she was under something that
hit her head and caused her to fall to the ground. She may survive but she might not be
able to walk again.” The doctor said, “WHAT? BRING ME TO SOPHIA RIGHT NOW.” I said,
dashing from my bed. The doctor led me to a room and I saw Sophia in bed with lots of
wires attached to her and a cast around her head and leg. I felt heartbroken seeing my
own daughter in this state.

“Hi mom.” Sophia said, weakly. “Sophia, I’m so sorry this happened to you” I said, tears
welling my eyes. “It’s not your fault.” She said, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but it is best if
Sophia does not talk much because she is still recovering.” The doctor said. “Do you
know what happened?” I asked. “Yes. While you were approaching the end of the
Boston Marathon, it turns out some people had set up bombs and bombed many
people including your family.” the doctor said.

Sophia started crying and I held her hand, calming her down. I remembered when I was
little and started crying, my mom would sing Song-Bie to me while calming me down. I
started singing Song-Bie to Sophia, which seemed to calm her down a little, and she fell
asleep.

CHAPTER THREE: IS IT OVER YET?

After that day, Sophia still had to stay in the hospital for about a month or two, and
Danielle, my husband, and I visit her every day. Everyone had a few bruises and some
burn marks but they would heal soon. I hoped everyday that Sophia would be okay and
we could go back to normal. I would always get shivers up my spine whenever I thought
about how Sophia could never walk again.

One day when I was cooking, I heard someone crying upstairs, so I walked upstairs to
see Danielle sitting on the floor curled up into a ball, crying. “Honey, why are you crying?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.” “I miss Sophia,” Danielle said,

Hiccupping from crying. I hugged her and started singing the song we both loved, Song-
Bie. After finishing the song, Danielle stopped crying a little, her eyes red and puffy.

And she hugged me, crying again.

The next few months were a blur. Sophia’s condition got worse and she had to stay in
the hospital for more than half a year. Every day since the day of the accident,
Song-Bie became my new song I loved every day once again, just like when I was in
elementary and middle school.

CHAPTER FOUR: MIRACLES DO HAPPEN

One day, 5 months after the accident, our family drove to the hospital once again to
visit Sophia, and when we were about to go in, the doctor rushed in front of us. “Hi Mrs.
and Mr. Wang, I have some important news to tell you before you visit Sophia.” The
doctor said, My heart started beating faster, hoping something bad didn’t happen.

“Sophia seemed to have a miracle. She is just as healthy as she was before the
accident, and should be released from the hospital soon.” The doctor said,

“She still needs to go to some physical therapy to make sure she can walk normally
again, but other than that, her body is healthy and amazing.” the doctor said. I was
overjoyed. I felt as if I was flying to cloud nine. Sophia was released the next week. It
seemed that I was past the dark and could finally see the light.

CHAPTER FIVE: THE SEQUEL

That all happened 5 months ago, and right now our whole family is back to normal, and
Sophia is now in her first year of middle school, while Danielle is in third grade. I was
walking out from my work when I heard that one tune I will never forget. I turned
around to see Danielle with her singing group, singing Song-Bie.

Seeing Danielle sing up on stage so beautifully made me so proud, and my eyes
started to well up with tears of joy. When Danielle saw me, I gave her a warm smile and
she sang with her group flawlessly. After her group finished the song and everyone
applauded, I walked to a bench and sat down, thinking about all the events that
happened in the past year.

Even though Song-Bie isn’t a person, Song-Bie has been through so much with me, from
elementary to immigrating to the US, to almost dying from the Boston marathon
attack, to Sophia getting hospitalized for a year, to now.

I decided to search up Song-Bie to see how my comfort song was made. I was shocked
to learn that the melody of the song was actually made in Massachusetts, the state I
was living in, in 1868. Later in 1907, a japanese musician used the melody and wrote
japanese lyrics to it. 13 years later in 1920, a very well known scholar in China wrote
lyrics to the song again, calling it Song-Bie, the song I loved dearly.

Because of how well known the scholar was in China, Song-Bie became a very popular
song and trended all the way to when I was born and raised in China. If I could ever talk
to a song, I would thank Song-Bie for being here by my side, always calming me down
when I was sad or frustrated, and helping me remember all my past memories with my
kids, as a kid, and so much more. I will always love Song-Bie.