You are my sunshine, my only sunshine...

A week or so after our wedding, one of the attorneys I work with took me aside and said he wanted to tell me something.  He motioned for me to come outside of my office and I became a little nervous.  I thought, "oh no, what have I done?!?"  He sat me down and explained to me that several years ago he was at his brother-in-law’s funeral. It was a dreary day with lots of heavy rain and inside the church you could hear the rain beating down on the roof and the continuous rumble of thunder. He said as they closed the casket, a beam of sunlight appeared and came through the back window of the church. That beam of sunlight seemed to shine on the casket and he and his wife couldn’t help but to think it was a way of knowing he was there with everyone. This attorney proceeded to tell me that after my Mom lit her part of our unity candle and was escorted out to meet me before she and I walked down the aisle, a ray of sunshine came through the chapel and briefly seemed to follow behind her. He paused and told me he wasn’t sure how I felt about things like this, but he and his wife both saw it and felt confident that ray of light was my Dad. By this point I felt like I needed to pick my chin up off the floor and I was in tears, but they were tears of joy. Joy in knowing that even if just two people noticed, my Dad was there and was watching over me on my special day. That story meant more to me than that attorney will ever know.


Today would be my Dad’s 54th birthday. I hope to be his ray of light, shining in whatever I do and making him proud. I hope he continues to show himself in small signs throughout the remainder of my life. My mom used to always sing, “You Are My Sunshine” to me for as long as I can remember….you know the one that goes, “…you’ll never know dear, how much I love you, so please don’t take my sunshine away.” It’s nice to know that even though my sunshine went away, he still finds a way to shine.