The Sun’ll Come Out…

Today!! The sun’ll come out… today.  I hope you’ll forgive another relatively shallow monologue on the weather. Call it an anti-rant or a woo-hoo post or much ado about nothing, but I am giddy right now with the joy of sunshine.  Yes, I’ve just enjoyed the first sunny day in Starkville in what seems like 600 years.  There are literally lakes where lawns and roads once were, and everyone I know has been nearing nutty land with the gloom and dripping of gray skies.  In the industrial park where my office is located, we have our own reflective pool in the grove of “bradford pear” trees adjacent to one of the parking lots.  For the past few weeks, the property has had the eery look of cars floating on water as I drive by, but I guess it’s been a nice natural foil to the manufactured building and car park look.

Finally, today, all the residents in my berg took a collective deep breath that was unsloshed by incessant drops.  This morning while nursing Baby Girl, I actually saw a tell-tale hint of pink peeking through my front window as the sun was coming up–something that’s been covered by dark clouds for a while.  It kind of matched her sweet little hungry complexion.  The drive to daycare required moving my sun visor down for our eastward turn into the parking lot, and Little Drummer Boy’s “thank You for the sun” good morning prayer was more than just a hopeful dream.  Later, I actually saw a hint of the sunset as I was driving home, my view unimpaired by clouds and windshield wipers.  I’ll say it again:  Woo-hoo!

In honor of this long-awaited, but probably fleeting weather shift, I’ve compiled a list of my top ten remind-me-of-a-sunny-day song lyrics to accompany the rainy day list from a few weeks back.  Oddly, there’s a lot of 60s and 70s there?  Hmmm…

1.  Sunny day
Sweepin’ the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet
Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street
~ Sesame Street theme song by Joe Raposo
Sing with me now.  The iconic home address of Oscar, Big Bird and various monsters still brings sunshine to my household almost 40 years after it first aired in 1969 (the sunny year of my birth).

2.  Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high
~ John Denver, 1971
High on sunshine!  Poems, Prayers & Promises was my favorite album as a child.  I think my Aunt Betty gave it to me from her collection, and Sunshine on My Shoulder still settles my spirit when I hear it.  I sang this one to Little Drummer Boy as a baby.

3.  Let the sunshine in
Let the sunshine in
~ The Fifth Dimension, 1969
1969 was a very sunny year, apparently coinciding with the dawning of the age of Aquarius–whatever that is.

4.  Here comes the sun
Doo doo doo doo
Here comes the sun
And I say
It’s alright
~ Beatles, 1969
Another sunny contribution from the year of my birth — and I say it’s alright!

5.  I’m walkin on sunshine
Woah Oh
and don’t it feel good? 
~ Katrina and the Waves, 1985
This flash from the 80s high school past still puts a bounce in my step despite the subject/verb disagreement that usually makes me scream.

6.  You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
You’ll never know, dear
How much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away
~ Jimmie Davis, 1940
For some reason when I feel the need for a quick hum or sing to my little ones, this is the first song that pops out.  It’s automatic?

 7.  I think i’ll go for a walk outside now
The summer sun’s callin my name
(I hear ya now)
I just can’t stay inside all day
I gotta get out get me some of those rays
Everybody’s smilin
Sunshine day
Everybody’s laughin
Sunshine day
Everybody seems so happy today
It’s a sunshine day 
~ The Brady Bunch
The catchy beat, the costumes, the after school reruns accompanied by a Dorito snack, the unlikely Greg-gets-a-recording-contract storyline, the groovy dance moves, Cindy–the only preteen in America still in braids, and did I say the costumes?  Who couldn’t smile at that?

8.  Wake up you sleepyhead sun 
Rise from your eastern bed 
Stretch and yawn, now it’s time to shine 
And chase our shadows west 
Burn in your pathway across the sky 
And brighten up our stories 
Wake the continents and oceans to 
Another blessed morning! 

You are the gift, you are the proof 
The Lord looks down and warms my roof 
You are the light, you are the sign 
That I am loved and life is mine 
~ Chris Rice
Number 9 or 10 on the lullaby CD I gave my boys for Christmas in 2006.  Even though it’s a wake-up song, I couldn’t resist adding it to our sleepy-time mix. I start the CD when Squiggle gets in bed.  This one usually plays when Little Drummer Boy and I come in again to get in bed and read “five stories” from his Bible book.  The sleepyhead sun makes me smile even at night.

9.  Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And this house just ain’t no home
Anytime she goes away.
~ Bill Withers, 1971
Sort of the anti-sunny day song, but it’s too good to pass up.  The stunning Eva Cassidy did my favorite cover.

10.  I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me down
It’s gonna be a bright bright bright bright sun shiny day
It’s gonna be a bright bright bright bright sun shiny day 
~ Johnny Nash, 1972
Need I say more?