12/2/2023 0 Comments Bowker songs of remembranceShe repeatedly told us "I'm so lucky," "I'm so fortunate," and "I couldn't have been happier in my life." When I hear "Sunshine On My Shoulders" or sing it to the great-granddaughter she could not meet because of COVID-19, I think of my Gran and smile, for she was my sunshine with whom I shared countless small joys, and I am grateful we had each one of them. When we played Denver's song, she swayed her hand to the melody and joyfully sang the words "makes me happy." Despite feeling badly, she knew little time remained and she chose to enjoy it. The cloistered walks terminate in two lookouts, one facing towards Windsor, and the other towards London Airport at Heathrow. On the crest of Coopers Hill, overlooking the Thames, a square tower dominates a cloister, in the centre of which rests the Stone of Remembrance. The first evening we spent with her, she asked to listen to music. The design of the Runnymede Memorial is original and striking. "The sun will come out tomorrow." Now, the song makes me think of the gift of being by her side during her final week, when we had not been permitted to touch for nearly one year because of the pandemic. "Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy". Perhaps you heard her sing, "Have I told you lately that I love you?". A humble person who wisely valued the 'precious present.'" Regardless of life's trials, she seized every opportunity for happiness, constantly whistling and singing her favorite songs. If you had the pleasure of knowing her, you know that she was a vibrant, generous woman full of life, smiles, and unconditional love. As I wrote in her obituary: "Our grandmother was sunshine. Also, simply the word "sunshine" makes me think of her. Beyond nostalgia, when I hear this song, I can picture the hours and days we shared, and I feel close to her. Gran sang this song to me on numerous occasions: while planting flowers in the spring eating Ellen's ice cream on Capitol Street riding bikes on a Saturday afternoon. A coal miner's daughter born and raised "up Cabin Creek," she also treasured Denver's song about her beloved West Virginia, where she experienced her many sunshines. For the rest of her life, she listened to John Denver. For her, I believe the sunshine of which Denver sings is a metaphor for the small joys she cherished: reading books to her granddaughters, skiing with her son, dancing with her husband, sharing a meal with friends. She chose to be grateful for something as simple as the sunshine "on my shoulders" or "in my eyes" or "on the water," and she invited the people she loved to do the same. 1 site across the UK for funeral notices, where you can search over 5,029,810 notices. Though she never said it, I believe the lyrics reminded her to appreciate life's small joys. The '70s were an especially tumultuous period for her one of significant loss that had a profound impact on her life. Hopefully when I'm a very old lady and I've had my own children and grandchildren, I will see her again on that other side.Since she fell in love with it in the 1970s, John Denver's "Sunshine On My Shoulders" was one of a handful of cheerful, heartfelt songs Gran constantly sang to loved ones. I'd like to think that they are up in heaven having a father-daughter dance to that song right now. My mom and my grandfather were very much the same: They both were happy to be behind the scenes, they didn't really want to be in the spotlight, but they were very caring, handy people. Born in 1925, my dad loved big-band swing the music of his youth. My father, Eugene Hurkin of Brooklyn, N.Y., died at the age of 95 from COVID-19. This was a song that my mom and my grandfather, my Pop-Pop, danced to at her wedding. We're calling our tribute Songs Of Remembrance. And then it's having to stop and go, "Wait, that's not happening anymore." I'm used to the routine of calling the hospital to get the morning report. They're gone." Especially in the first couple of weeks after she had died, it was hard waking up: I feel like I've got to check on her. And then you fully wake up, and then you remember, "That's right. You get a lot of mornings where you wake up, and there's that little moment before your brain's fully awake. So I think of all the memories that we got to have, and I was lucky that I had a second chance to make with her. There was a point when they weren't sure if my mother was going to make it, and she did. He listened to Israel Kamakawiwoole's version of the song when he felt down. I was blessed with so many memories of my mother, especially because she had a stroke at the age of 37 when my brother and I were really young. Adriana Martinez of Santa Clarita, Calif., remembers her uncle Carlos Herrera, 65, who died of COVID-19 last year.
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