You are My Sunshine
“You are My Sunshine” is a song that I hold close to my heart, because it was a song that my mother would sing to me when I was a child. I remember my mother holding me in her arms while rocking me in the recliner that I have in my daughter’s room. If there is one thing that I had to say about my mother it would be she always has a song in her heart. Hearing her beautiful voice as she would do laundry or clean up around the house has always been my favorite attribute of hers. Whether she sings or hums a song it is very calming.
I remember like it was yesterday when she would serenade me to sleep; putting her fingers through my brown curly hair, gazing into my eyes with adoration, and then she would start singing, “You are my sunshine my only sunshine,/you make me happy when skies are grey,/ you never know dear, how much I love you,/ please don’t take my sunshine away,” and those were the words I heard just before falling to sleep. This song has always been a favorite of mine and every time I hear the tune, I cannot help but sing to it.
While my brothers and sister were at school, my mom loved to read to me and then I would get to watch the television. One day as my mother and I were watching TV “You are My Sunshine” was being used as background music for a commercial, and I said to my mother, “They are singing your song!” and she replied, “yes, they are sweetie!” I started to question my mom, “How did they get the words to your song?” and she explained to me that the song has been around for some time now, and how her mother would sing her the same song to her as a child; stroking her hair, gazing into eyes as she fell asleep.
“The apple did not fall far from the tree” is a saying that rings true when it pertains to my mother and grandmother. I did not have the privilege of getting to know my grandmother very well, but my mother always claims to have had the best mother in the world. I may look a lot like my father, but the personality apple came from my mother, and contrary to what my mother claims I have the best mother in the world.
I have recently became a new mother to a beautiful girl, my daughter’s name is Zariah and she is now eight months old. I have a routine when it comes to putting her to sleep at night. Around nine o’clock every night I get her ready for bed by first reading her a book in the exact same chair my mother would read to me in. When I finish reading to Zariah, I lay her across my lap and start breastfeeding her. This is the time when she usually starts to close her eyes, and I will start rocking gently and start singing to her,