I didn't realize how much I missed my childhood. Then I saw my parents with my daughters.

The author, shown with her dad in the 90s (left), said seeing him with her daughter (right) helps her connect with her past. Courtesy of Alex Vance.

I hadn't heard my mom sing in years. The memories were there, of course, her singing along with the car radio or lulling us to sleep with a song from the latest Disney movie . But the actual sound of her voice had faded with time, slipping away somewhere between teenage angst and newfound adulthood.

So when I heard it again as an adult — gentle, melodic, familiar — it was an unexpected jolt of nostalgia . I watched as she cradled my months-old firstborn, gently nuzzling nose to nose, softly singing the chorus to "You Are My Sunshine." My daughter looked up, her giant blue eyes fixed on my mother's face.

Did she sing that to me as a baby? I couldn't remember.…