You Are my Sunshine

It had been three straight weeks of clouds and grey in Chicago. June had just started and Lucy Freedman was more than ready for Summer to begin. It had been a month since the tragic passing of her grandmother, Mary, and in her grief, Lucy attempted to focus on all the things that make her happy. One of those things being sunlight and summer. To Lucy, there was nothing better than stepping outside in the morning, looking up at the sky, and seeing the sun greet her with warmth and light. However, after her grandmother passed, the warmth and the light of the sun that filled Lucy with happiness was nowhere to be found.

It had been a month of walks in the cold rain, rides in heavy traffic, and a sky that bore no brightness. This wasn’t unexpected of Chicago of course. This was, after all, the city where you could experience all four seasons in a single day and no one would question why. Something about this grey in May though unsettled Lucy. May was usually the beautiful precursor to Summer. When flowers would bloom and the ice would melt on the salty roads of Lake Shore Drive. She would even take a cold plunge into Lake Michigan when she couldn’t wait for summer to approach. Her grandma always thought that was a crazy and dangerous practice. 

“You’re going to get pneumonia!” Mary would scream looking at her granddaughter wade in the water.

Lucy would giggle in response and shake her head. She never did get pneumonia, but damn were those waters cold enough to kill her. Looking back on those memories, Lucy wishes she would’ve captured them better. She would worry over why she didn’t take more pictures with her grandmother and why she never asked her more about her childhood. She never even bothered to ask what her favorite color was. There was never going to be enough time with her grandmother she eventually realized. She was never going to feel that it was a good time for her to die. Though this was a stark realization, it brought her some peace. The memories she did have, she would have to savor and document to ensure she never forgot.

It was the night before the first day of June and Lucy was tucked into bed looking back into how dreadful the last month had been. She stayed up till 11:00 PM fighting with her thoughts that kept her up at night. She typically tried to get to bed around 9:00 but sleep had often found a way of escaping her. She sat and thought about the weekends she would stay with her grandmother and how she always made the best chocolate chip cookies. She’d have to find that recipe sometime soon she realized. Then she would think about the times her grandmother would take her to church, and the breakfast restaurant they would frequent afterwards. 

“What was the name of that restaurant?” she murmured to herself.

“The Egg Hatch? The Golden Egg?” Damn, she couldn’t remember. 

“Whatever.” she thought to herself. She would figure it out tomorrow.

Lucy closed her eyes and let sleep capture her. As she dozed asleep, she found herself dreaming of Mary. 

“Don’t forget to look both ways before crossing, sweetie.” said Mary with her grip tight around Lucy’s hand. Lucy, back in her 8 year old body, giggled and squeezed her grandmother’s hand tight as they crossed the street back to the car. Lucy peeked behind her to see the rest of the Sunday crowd flooding outside of the Church after the Sunday morning service. She always admired the multi-colored stained glass windows on each side of the church. Each side showed a white dove flying while carrying a rose in their beaks. 

Lucy stepped into the back seat of the car, buckled up her seat belt and waited patiently as her grandmother drove them both to their favorite breakfast joint. As they pulled up to the restaurant, Lucy looked up at the neon light sign that displayed the name of the restaurant in bright cyan and pink colors.

“Here we are, sweetie. Our favorite joint, The Golden Apple.” said Mary while smiling from ear to ear.

Lucy jumped out of the car and raced over to her grandmother. They held hands as they walked in. The pair were greeted by Mitsy, the regular hostess that seated them every Sunday right at 10:00 AM. Mitsy always had her hair dolled up in a big bun and garnered her face with bright blue eyeshadow and a deep red lipstick. She always had some remnants of that lipstick on her teeth but neither Mary nor Lucy ever mentioned anything about it to her. Despite the smudge, Lucy always thought Mitsy was a really beautiful lady and always waited for the day she could wear bright makeup just like hers.

“Your usual booth, ladies?” Mitsy asked. 

“Only if it’s available.” replied Mary, still smiling.

Lucy and her grandmother had sat down in the red leather booth and ordered the same thing that they ordered each time they frequented the Golden Apple. Blueberry waffles for Lucy and a yogurt parfait for her grandmother. Plus an apple muffin to split between the two of them.

After scarfing down as much as they could of their breakfast, they sat in silence, almost too full to mutter a word other than a groan and a thank you to the server after he retrieved their dirty dishware. Lucy’s grandmother stared outside the window, her chin resting upon her hands folded beneath her face. 

“Look at that, Lucy. Not a single cloud in the sky today. As sunny as it could be.”

“I’ve seen sunnier.” Lucy replied with a grin and a giggle. Her grandmother reached across the table for her hand and held it as they both stared at the magnificent day that had been granted upon them.

“You know the sun always makes me think about you.” said her grandmother, breaking a long held silence.

“Why’s that?”

“Because you’re my sunshine of course!” she replied. Lucy, head tilted, just smiled in response and continued to look out that same window taking in the warm sunshine. 

The sound of wind chimes coming from Lucy’s phone startled her awake. She picked it up to reveal it was 7 AM.

“Morning already? Jeez.”. She rubbed her eyes with both hands, shifted her feet to the floor and sat up at the edge of her bed. 

“The Golden Apple. It was called the Golden Apple.” she murmured as she smiled and laughed to herself. She stood up and walked over to her bedroom window hearing the old oak floorboards creak beneath her. She opened her window shade to find the bright sunshine penetrating her bedroom and filling it with light. Her eyes squinted as they adjusted to the bright light that surprised her upon opening her blinds. Finally, she looked outside and up at the sky to see that there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. Nothing but the sun sat inside the blue canvas that spread above her.

Surprised, she reached for her phone again to check the weather app.

“Seventy degrees?” she murmured in shock. She smiled at her phone and then towards the sky. She sighed a breath and whispered, “Good morning, Sun.”.

It hadn’t been sunny a single day since her grandmother’s passing. She had waited week after week to feel the sun’s comforting warmth cover her as she went upon her days. Lucy was beginning to lose hope that Summer would come at all considering the ugly weather that insisted on keeping her inside. Until today – when she opened her blinds and the sun encapsulated her in the warmth she didn’t know she needed. It was finally sunny.