You are My Sunshine: a Search for Understanding

Maybe the point of falling is to teach you to get back up. Maybe the purpose of losing is to teach you how to celebrate a triumph. Maybe the point of hurting is to teach you how to heal and maybe the purpose of goodbye is to remind you to cherish every hello.

There once was a couple who wished for a child. They prayed every night for a joyous little boy and every morning they woke to an empty crib. The world saw the grief this couple held and pitied them.

To the sun she cried, "Brother sun, it is I sister earth. See this family, so lost and in the dark, give them light - a bit of sunshine to hold onto."

Moved by the earth's pleas and the cries of the couple the sun agreed. That night, after the couple had gone to bed, the sun began to flare and collected his energy forming it into the shape of a small child. At sunrise the couple awoke and there they found him; their sunshine, the answer to their lost cause, their forever.

And I wish, dear reader, that this was the end of the story. I wish that the couple lived a life full of light, love, and sunshine. But we are told to write what we know and not what we wish. And I know too much about how this story ends, so I choose not to write the ending, but rather the middle.

In the middle, the sunshine boy was loved. Though the couples love for one another died, the little boy was never without love. His family encouraged him to grow and flourish and his light shined on the world. He was a boy filled with courage, laughter, music, and joy. All of which poured out from him and into everyone he encountered. He made friends with strangers and fiercely loved the familiar.

Though made of the sun, he was a child in every way. He played, he cried, he napped, he made turtles out of green beans and told silly jokes – which only caused his light to grow. He shined with such power that even now, with all of the darkness in ending, his light warms those who hold his memory. We are filled with his love continuously and he won’t let go. The boy was and shall forever be in every hug, smile, and laugh shared among people. The sun may set, but it is never completely gone – simply shinning somewhere else.

Maybe we are given questions so we can celebrate certainty. Maybe we are given tears to remind us to appreciate the smile. Maybe we get lost to teach us to love every moment we know where we are – and maybe we are given darkness. We are given darkness to turn our faces to the light.