My Sunshine
Today is a day we weren’t sure we’d ever reach: Austin’s 5th birthday.
And yet, here we are.
I was the parent helper this morning for his preschool class, where we celebrated with frosted zucchini muffins (at Austin’s request) to which one child asked in disbelief, “Are there really cucumbers in here?” And moments later, “Can you take the onions out of my cupcake?” (He did end up eating the whole thing.)
Then we spent hours baking cakes for tomorrow’s party. After school, he and Braedan worked happily on his new Lego set, the two of them side-by-side on the living room floor (getting along!). Then it was out to the yard in the rain with Mark and our carpenter (who might as well be part of the family) attaching a rope ladder to the back of the tree house.
Music has been playing on the radio all day, also at Austin’s request, and after listening to the Juno soundtrack, we danced around to his favorite, the Putamayo World Playground CD. He had wandered away by the time the eleventh song came on, a beautiful rendition of You Are My Sunshine. And I couldn’t help but think back to the days (and weeks and months and years) that I held him in my arms in a hospital room, singing quietly into his ear, trying to soothe him after some particularly painful or scary medical procedure. And that song and those words, “Please don’t take my sunshine away,” reached a fevered pitch in my head and my heart, as I so feared that one day I might have only memories of this dear, dear boy.
But here we are. And here he is.
Happy Birthday, sweet Austin.
Just cover his precious little face with kisses and kisses. Mom
I’m tearing up.
anne
I know those feelings well, and am so very happy that you were able to tell your sweet little boy “happy birthday.” Love to you all!
Im so happy for you and your family! There will be many many more happy birthdays to come.
My son was born at 34 weeks gestation in July and I was looking for a song to sing to him in the NICU. I tried You Are My Sunshine once and got too choked up on that last line to continue. I settled on This Little Light of Mine and he loved it.