My Sunshine
By Kathy Armijo

As the song goes …
“You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine,
You make me happy when skies are gray …
Please don’t take my sunshine away.”

As much as I prayed for you to get better on earth,
I left it up to God to decide what was best for you and me.
It’s been twenty-one years that God took you to a better place.  
            There you can run, talk and see, again.
You are still my sunshine.

The memories of your silliness lifts my heart.
Your famous words – “Wowie!  So What?  Who cares?”
            Clearly words to live by.
It mattered not to you what others thought,
            Only that you did your very best.

I can still see you running around the block.
Time after time after time …
Always stopping by to let me know you were going around, again.
You never knew how much I worried,
            Your eyesight was growing dim.
            Your legs were starting to give out.
But, running was important to you,
            So I gave in.

As the dystrophy progressed –
When you could no longer walk, but still had the ability to talk,
You wished you could walk.
Gently, I gave you a mom’s rhetoric about this loss.
Your vehement response, “I just said – I wish!”
A few days later, you made the same pronouncement.
I concurred, stating I wished you could, too.
To my surprise, you said, “Yeah.  If I could walk, I could jump, and
If I could jump, I could run.”
Simply a statement of the truth.
No regrets.
What a remarkable seven-year old boy.

The next four years were rough.
You lost your sight, speech and mobility,
           Yet, your laughter was full of life and love.
If I’m really quiet, I can hear you laughing up above.

“Big Jose” made up wonderful bedtime stories.
You were always the hero.
The ending was always the same – 
            The hero always got milk and cookies as his reward.

You hung on to this life with all your might.

For your heroism,
            God gave you cookies and milk.
            He gave you eternal life.
            He gave ALL that your heart desired –
                    even to walk, jump and run, again.

Tho’ the time has flown by
You are always in my heart.
Forever,

            You will be MY SUNSHINE!