Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

Posted on by Live & Learn

58 thoughts on “Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy”

      1. Oh Paul, thank you – I’m pretty sure I don’t deserve such high praise, tho’ I thank you so much. My dad – Lewy Body Dementia…he was the keeper of all my secrets – even the not-too-pretty ones…losing him long before he passed away. And all these years later there remains this rush of love and heartbreak. I read to him the night before he died (Robert Benchley, one of his favorites), because. The nurses said that is the last of the senses to go…he passed away the next morning. I’m sorry – this was way too much of an explanation, so I’m going to thank you again, and go find a Kleenex.❤️‍🩹

          1. Thank you Dale – I think there are a lot of reasons why we keep such chapters closed…Certainly, the sorrow seems to overwhelm the joy. This video was gorgeous; the music perfectly in sync. Sometimes grief just bubbles up, demanding attention in its own right. And I agree with Paul – knowing that we’re next is impossible to consider. I’m not sure I know when we became the older generation – especially because we’re all so darn fantastic and youthful (sort of kidding)…The benefits of sharing the good and the not-so-good, well documented…I’ve gone on too long and this comment has no glib ending…just a lot of thanks and virtual hugs..

          3. Oh, I get it. December starts tomorrow and for me, it’s rather difficult. Lost two friends and a husband all between the 18th and 25th. You don’t want to focus on it, but it does bubble up out of nowhere, it seems.
            And you’re right! We are all so darn fantastic and youthful! And we shall keep on keeping on and encouraging each other,
            A round of virtual hugs on me!

          6. Losing my mom on 23 December was difficult as well… No doubt! But I do like to think that she chose to say goodbye on the 23rd, rather than the 24th or the 25th. That would’ve made it harder than it already is. 💕

          7. For sure. Both my grandmother and Mick (my husband) died on the 21st. Mick’s birthday was the 18th, too. A very good friend died on Christmas Day and another on Mick’s birthday last year. It’s hard to not think of all these people during that week.
            We cannot focus on the negative at these times but remember all the love and laughter. It’s what I do 🙂

        3. Mimi… 31 years ago, my mother and I sat with my father when he left us. I lived only 20 minutes away from their house. Mom called me and told me dad was not doing well, and I asked her if she wanted me to come over. She had declined this offer from me at least once before, but this night for some reason she said yes. She knew time was growing short. My father had a horrible five-year battle with cancer.

          So my mother and I sat with my father very late that September night, and it was as if my father had been waiting for me to be there to support my mom. We had also been told that hearing is the last sense to leave. When the final moments came, I held my father’s hand and simply told him repeatedly that everything was going to be OK. I kept repeating that phrase for several minutes…even after I was sure dad had left us.

          I will always be grateful that I was able be there… so that in a very small way… I could provide just a tiny bit of comfort…

          1. Oh Paul, I have no doubt that your dad was comforted by your presence. Knowing on some level that you’ll be there for your mom, and you would bear witness to your dad’s next journey enveloped both your mom and dad with love. Your parents must have been very special to raise such a sensitive son..

    1. There is no doubt that the sadness is often a large part of the journey. But I do wonder… Most people keep this sadness to themselves. If instead, we shared these experiences (almost all of us have them), perhaps we could be in a position to support each other more than we currently do. Tricky stuff… what to share, and what is best left unsaid. I certainly don’t have answers to where these lines should be drawn.

      1. I agree with you, Paul. It is a difficult situation for all. Perhaps we (many) feel we don’t want to burden others with the sadness involved. And yet, as you’ve said, we could support each other more than we currently do, were we to be more open about this terrible condition.

  3. I lost my dad in 1991. Far too young at age 65. Mom lived to be 95, and passed away December 23, 2020. Mom was, and still is my best friend. I still talk to her every day. I helped take care of her (a little more each year) from 2006 to 2020 as she grew frail and Alzheimer’s stole most of her short term memory, and perhaps 50% of her long-term memory. But she never forgot who her three sons and her husband were. I am so grateful for that. I am the youngest of the three boys. “Sunshine on my shoulders” is one of my oldest brother’s favorite songs. I felt a lot of emotion watching this video. I can only describe it as “bitter sweet”. But it’s a great example of how we should do our best to care for people who were born a generation or two before us. “Our elders” have such incredible wisdom and memories that they can share with us. Priceless. It’s very painful to watch our parents and grandparents grow old and we have to hang on to those precious memories if we are fortunate enough to have them. And then I cannot help but think to myself: “I am next, so I have to make the most of the years that I have left.” Life (at least for me) is a mysterious journey.

  5. A complex topic… You chose to touch on today Dave. I admire your courage to take these things on. There’s a voice inside me that says this is a good thing to do. I think it provides an opportunity for people to come closer together, and support each other. The world certainly needs people to come closer together. It seems we are currently heading in the opposite direction. It’s almost impossible for me to read the news these days. I read the headlines… And that’s about as much as I can take.

    I think it took courage for Chevrolet to promote this video. The video tells a happy story, but things don’t always go that way. Regardless, I love the message of including our elders in our lives as much as possible.

    1. Paul, “It’s almost impossible for me to read the news these days. I read the headlines… And that’s about as much as I can take.”

      We are kin on this thought and feeling. I’m so aligned with you, so aligned.

    2. It’s all one fabric unraveling. Is the crisis primarily spiritual, ethical, political? It’s hard to feel where one piece ends and the other starts — cancer scans, satellite images of the heating earth, the warming oceans, national maps of mass (and police) shootings, global maps of refugees, heart-stopping charts of poverty, income inequality, homelessness, incarceration. The loss of opportunity for whole generations. …

      — Jorie Graham, Jorie Graham confronts past, present, and future. (The Harvard Gazette, May 31, 2023)

      https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/05/jorie-graham-confronts-time-and-her-own-mortality-in-new-book/?fbclid=IwAR39mTbn4kOHAkYVvTbVYIt6jsj1PrqZ4MShj5zpeRD9y8HuO4EeH4-1IsM

  6. I shared this video to all and sundry, too. I love when a company goes out of their way to touch our heartstrings. Sometimes, if they are lucky, we even remember the product!

    1. LOL I love it Dale 🙂
      You sent me to the dictionary just like Mimi! I have often heard the word sundry, instinctively understood its meaning, but now I understand it much more clearly! 😉

      It fascinates me that my vocabulary is so limited, despite the fact that I was a good student. Having said that, I know why… It’s obvious to me. From the first moment I touched a computer, I knew that’s what I wanted to do for a career. Consequently my head is full of obsolete “computer vocabulary LOL!!

      2. 🙂
        Aren`t words wonderful? I love when I am sent to the dictionary 🙂

        The more we read, the more we expand our vocabulary. That said, once we fall into a certain domain, the lingo of said domain does tend to take over 🙂

  9. Well… My aunt is living it. I’m slowly getting there. Cognitively speaking… some medications that help other parts of the body, heightens degeneration of the brain. Love the song. How are you?

  13. I seem to be the only one who loved this ‘story’ until I realised that it was a commercial. But maybe I’m in the wrong and need to have my head sorted. Just wait until I’ve dried my years…
    Agree wholeheartedly with the comments. So much love shining through, such compassion, and so much hurt, too. I’ll be eternally thankful that my sister and both mothers, as well as my 100yr old auntie, died with their brain faculties intact.
    But u also am convinced that ppl only die when their beloved ones ‘allow’ them to go. I know that from personal experience. And seeing a beloved family member drift away and literally lose their mind must be so, so difficult.

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