Sunshine Boy

 

Sun shines now as it did June, 9, 1937. A baby boy cries as his father walks into the bedroom, joining his mother as she places their son in the crib, then covers him with a scratchy wool blanket, brushes his soft cheek with her moist lips, sunshine fills the room. Pleased looks and a lingering embrace are exchanged as the new mother and father look in awe at their long awaited little boy. The sunshine warms the child growing up on a small farm, his constant companion a dog name Amos. 

Sun shines as boy starts school, loses front teeth, tooth fairy arrives. Sun shines when the jolly fat man brings a banana and nuts for stockings that hang by the chimney. Packages wrapped in red, under a tinsel laden tree. Sun fades when boy finds out that Santa and parents are one and the same. 

Sunshine grows dim and the farm is unable to sustain their life, as the small herd of sheep dies one by one from anthrax. Sun is hidden as the farm is sold and they move, father looking for any kind of work that will put food on the table. They remain a small unit, 3 of them, content, living near relatives, making new friends. The family joins the Grange and the local church as the sunshine comes back into their lives. 

Boy is growing up, zits erupt on that same smooth cheek and whiskers soon follow. School keeps him busy, soon a part time job bagging groceries, supplies school clothes, gasoline, the first package of cigarettes, he briefly plays the trumpet and as coxswain keeps his team on cadence. He graduates from high school, leaves home to attend Ranger School, as the sun shines higher in the sky. 

Sunshine hides behind a cloud as mother coughs, gasping for breath when her childhood asthma rears its ugly head and angrily demands that they move to a less humid climate. Sunshine hides behind a black cloud as their meager possessions are sold or given away and a small cedar chest is packed with the mementoes of the past 20 years, along with only the necessities that will fit in a pickup bed covered with a homemade camper as the sunshine peeks out from behind the dark cloud. The sun shines on the cross country trip, three of them share in the driving of a 57 ford pickup. Five days and 3500 miles register on the odometer, the sun shines in a welcoming way as they reach McCall, Idaho, settle into a cramped apartment and begin life in their new home. The sun shines as father finds seasonal work on a bridge crew and mother takes in ironing to supplement the family income.

Sun shines high in the sky as son starts a summer job awaiting him with the Forest Service and enrolls at the University of Idaho the coming fall. The sun shines as his paychecks afford new wheels in the form of a 2 door, 1953 mercury, shiny and black, polished to a high gloss. The sun shines as parents stand waving, tears streaming down his mother face as their only child climbs into the shiny car, revs the motor, smiles at the rumble it makes and leaves the family nest for college.

Sun shines for the next three years, a college degree on the horizon, winters spent at school and summers at work, a combined family effort keeps boy focused. The summers brings sunshine as he makes friends, finds time to water ski, attend dances and parties, has a girlfriend, he met in college. Suddenly the sunshine moves in a different direction, girlfriend attends a conference back east and boy finds himself without a date for the Saturday night dance. Sunshine is slippery, as farm girl appears on scene, just for one date, what can it hurt? Girlfriend fades away as farm girl, still a teenager, snuggles close in the front seat of the ’53 mercury and sun shines as the relationship blossoms, boy’s parents struggle to come to grips with this sudden turn of events. Sunshine peaks from behind a cloud, boy returns to college, leaving farm girl behind to finish her last year of high school amid her own peers. Letters fly through the mail, an occasional trip home keeps the romance alive, a diamond ring is slipped on her left hand and thoughts of a June wedding float in the sun filled sky. But farm girl has niggling thoughts that maybe she needs more time, since marriage is forever.

After she graduates from high school the couple decide to postpone their wedding for a year and she enrolls in beauty school to further her education. Both sets of parents breath a big sigh of relief as the sunshine moves high into the sky.