Sunshine from Dad

Heather always loved music. She was fond of her parents' golden oldies as well as her own contemporary music. She learned how to play the piano and french horn and sang in choirs all the time she was growing up. For the last several years she enjoyed making cd's for her parents, a blend of old and new, fast and slow. They are all wonderful to listen to. Ironically, I'd just asked her to make me a new one a few weeks before her death.
However, she and I had our own special song, from a much simpler time. When Heather was a baby, she always seemed to have some kind of cold or health issue. Medicine would make her better, but she seldom got well. When she was two, her doctor decided to do some allergy tests. It was a nightmare for all us, watching her strapped to a papoose board and her little arm pricked again and again. But we learned some things and it was decided to give her weekly allergy shots.
Since I was off in the afternoons, it was my job to drive her the 60 mile round trip for the shot. She was very apprehensive at the start, so I began singing to her...all kinds of children's songs and old favorites: Frere Jacque, Old MacDonald, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and You Are My Sunshine among others.
I'd sing and she'd bounce in her car seat. Over the months she began singing with me. One in particular she liked the most; "You Are My Sunshine" by Jimmie Davis, a former governor of Louisiana. At about this same time, a group known as the Statler Brothers released a country/western song called "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine?" It was a separate song, but incorporated some of the original. It did quite well and she'd hear it on the radio...plus, I was a DJ at a country western station at the time and I'd play it for her.
Heather outgrew the allergy shots and became a remarkable little girl, branching out in may directions of interest. Little did I know that she kept that song tucked away in her heart. Years later on her wedding day she had a special request for the DJ playing music at her reception. For the father/bride dance, I heard the familiar sounds of "You Are My Sunshine." I cried then as I am crying now. She will always be my Sunshine.