15 Comments
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Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

"I told them about the DNR form taped to the refrigerator, right next to the steamed egg recipe I had written for her." Such a telling detail, with its tension between continuity and finality. A beautiful essay, Yi.

Yi Xue's avatar

Thanks, Jeffrey! Many details become alive when we look back on our lives, don’t they?

Ricky Wang's avatar

Beautiful post! Thanks for sharing. This is a great reminder for me to take videos of my parents while I can. Typically I just take pictures but it would be nice having videos.

Amazing tribute to your mother.

Yi Xue's avatar

My mom never liked to be recorded, but I secretly did a few anyway. Hope she is not mad at me for not obeying her wishes! 😅

Thanks, Ricky, for reading and sending me your kind words!

Ricky Wang's avatar

The video is lovely. Looking forward to seeing more of your videos and articles!

Lani V. Cox's avatar

Hey, that's some pretty fancy good video editing, Yi! 😍A beautiful tribute and remembrance. It was nice that you shared it here. None of the original feelings were altered in the second reading either. Big hugs.

Yi Xue's avatar

I also rewrote it in Chinese today, and the sense that I was writing two different essays was so strong that I am seriously considering writing several of my Substack essays in Chinese and sharing them with a much larger, Chinese-reading audience.

My son introduced me to CapCut, and I've only started using maybe a tiny fraction of its features. We may be getting older, but we aren’t going to stop learning, right? 😅

Thanks for reading, Lani, as always!

Slice of Life: Random Moments's avatar

Wow, I really enjoyed the music video you made! So beautiful! 🤩

Yi Xue's avatar

Thanks! I wish I took more clips of Mom playing…

Holly Starley's avatar

The weaving of the relationship—mom to child, adult child to aging—is so gracefully depicted here.

Yi Xue's avatar

Thank you for your kind words, Holly! The generational connection is what ties us together and tethers us to our roots.

Portia's avatar

How wonderful to have such moving memories of your Mom, Xue, and to share in the same love for music! This Chopin piece fits your story perfectly.

Yi Xue's avatar

Dear Portia, thank you for reading, listening, and restacking! 🩷

Judy Allen's avatar

Beautiful, Yi. Thank you!

Yi Xue's avatar

Thank you, Judy! 🙏