You Are My Sunshine

You Are My Sunshine is the song Ava’s Yiayia sings during their weekly phone calls, and Ava identifies it as a song shared between them. Its significance in the novel is grounded in this recurring family ritual: across distance and amid Ava’s grief, it is a familiar expression of connection, though the text does not present it as a song about Kelly or as a direct remedy for bereavement.

Identity and Family Connection

Ava recalls that she has written letters only to her Yiayia, who lives down south, and adds that her grandmother calls once a week to sing You Are My Sunshine. The song is not introduced as a public performance or as a general emblem; Ava’s account makes it personal by identifying it as theirs. Its meaning rests on the repeated act of singing within a close family relationship.

Distance and Repetition

Ava places the weekly calls within a family divided by geography. Her father and his brothers were born in Australia and remain down south, while Ava and her father live farther north. The regular call gives the song a recurring place in that separation: the evidence establishes that Yiayia sings it when she calls, making it part of a continuing pattern of contact rather than a single remembered occasion.

The Song Beside Ava’s Grief

The song is recalled in the same account in which Ava describes her grandparents and family ties, while other passages trace the disorientation and duration of her grief after Kelly’s death. Ava counts the Sundays since Kelly died and remembers learning the news from her father; these passages establish how strongly loss alters her sense of time. They do not say that Yiayia’s song is sung in response to Kelly’s death. Its connection to the grief narrative is therefore contextual: it belongs to a recurring family bond that the novel sets alongside, but does not equate with, Ava’s bereavement.

Continuing Bonds and Significance

Later, Ava describes attending therapy with Nola and recognizes that Kelly’s death will continue to shape her while she moves forward. The novel presents that continuing bond with Kelly through memory and Ava’s sense of obligation to live, not through You Are My Sunshine. The song’s distinct role is quieter and familial: it names a small, repeated connection between Ava and her Yiayia, sustained through weekly calls.