With beautiful weather and a happier Hip Chick, we spent this morning at our local arboretum. We thought she would enjoy extra time outside and a scenic landscape. One can't help humming a cheery tune at such times and several about sunshine come to mind, including a classic quoted on one of the gardens' markers:
The lyrics of John Denver's Sunshine on my Shoulders are indeed lovely enough to quote (if you have never read the lyrics, you should), but I held a different tune in mind today.
On our wedding day, I walked the aisle to Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles. We "hired" a band of talented high school students to provide our ceremony music and those special youth donated every dollar we paid them to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. We selected them because we wanted to honor our wedding with a mitzvah, and we could think of no better cause than children with a medically debilitating condition.
Our little hippie was born nine months after our wedding and the song seems to apply more to her now. It is a fitting theme song for any "hip" kid, as many do spend years in surgeries and casts, with worried parents hoping for sunnier days. Below are the images which swept my mind today. I won't quote the song verbatim, but enough to represent my thoughts:
Little darling, it's been a long, cold lonely winter...
(Traction, day one)
(Ready for surgery)
(Afternoon, the day of her surgery.)
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here...
(Three weeks prior to traction)
(Gymnastics class, one month before a second opinion led to her diagnosis. We enrolled her due to the first opinion that she had a minor limb length difference and needed help with coordination.)
Here comes the sun and I say, it's all right.
Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces...
(Daddy-daughter yogurt break during traction.)
(Mommy-daughter lunch date one month post surgery.)
(Playing with our favorite magnets in our spica cast, a new way.)
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here...
(Daddy-daughter hockey date, two weeks prior to diagnosis.)
(Swinging, the day before she began traction.)
Here comes the sun and I say, it's all right.
Little darling, I feel the ice is slowly melting...
(Koi pond, today.)
(Koi pond, today.)
(Frog statue, at arboretum today.)
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been clear...
(Zoo, two weeks before traction.)
(Music lab at a local museum, three weeks prior to traction.)
Here comes the sun and I say, it's all right.
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
(Pioneer house exhibit, today.)
...and I say, it's all right.
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