couple in a field

i might get in trouble for posting this, but i don’t care.

my sister sent me an email yesterday while i was on the road home from virginia.  she said that one of the pictures on the website she sent me made her tear up…  i told her i would look at them when i got home.  i’ll admit though, i was curious all day what could have made her tear up in a picture.

(sidenote: the link she sent me was 25 of the entries into the National Geographic 2009 Photo Contest.  Click Here if you’d like to see them all)

here is the picture.

the caption reads: My grandfather was born and raised on our New Zealand farm. He and my grandmother were married nearly 60 years. Preparing for a photo in the barley, my grandmother lovingly reached up to adjust his hat. This was his last harvest. (Photo and caption by Gemma Collier)

my mother’s parents moved to eastern washington when i was young.  after living in cities most their life they moved to a very rural town of 500 people.  they got a big house, and quite a bit of land.  my grandfather started his own garden, and they were truly happy there.

my grandfather befriended everyone he met, and soon after moving there everyone knew Ramsey Worman.  even the gruffest looking farmer smiled and shook his hand as he passed.

i have a feeling that he would have been a farmer if he could have been.  my grandfather used to wake my sis and i up at 5 in the morning and we’d get dressed, and put on our hats (he had a great collection of hats) and we’d drive out to one of the silo stations and wait for the trucks.  i’m not sure if my grandpa would call ahead of time and tell them we were coming, but they’d always welcome us!  so my grandpa, my sis and i would pile into a dump truck and ride out to the fields, lunch in hands and hats on heads.  once on the field we would all pick a different truck or combine to ride in and throughout the day we’d switch and watch them farm the wheat.

even though my grandfather was never a farmer, this photo reminds me so much of him.  the hat, the oxford and sweater, and khakis.

i miss him.

– noah