Notes from The Farmer’s Daughter – A photograph, a tractor, a memory treasured

Last week I was sorting through pictures looking for a photo of my late Brother-in-law, Rick, when I came across the digital files containing the photos he took when he was out on the road making deliveries.

He had a great appreciation for tractors – not the shiny new ones with the luxury cabs and all the digital technology at your fingertips. Instead, Rick’s eye was drawn to the old workhorses of yesteryear, the tractors our parents, grandparents and perhaps even great grandparents used.

Rick had sent the pictures to me a couple of years before his passing to create a link for viewing on his and my sister’s business website. I remember at the time suggesting he make a calendar with the photos he took. He delighted in the idea.

Unfortunately, life got busy as it often does, and Rick’s tractor calendar never got made until shortly after his passing. I created three “memorial” calendars for a select few that I felt would appreciate the gesture during their time of immense grief.

Though I wasn’t particularly fond of the antique tractors myself, I know they meant something to Rick. Now I look at each picture that he took the time to pull over and take while on his daily delivery route, and they bring a new admiration for those relics that sit among the long grass and other discarded equipment of days gone by.

I study the picture as if seeing it through new eyes. I can almost hear Rick’s voice as he points to the things that would have otherwise gone unnoticed or missed by someone such as myself.  

I know Rick would have loved seeing his pictures in a calendar, and he would have also taken great pride in seeing one of his “old tractor” photos published in a much-loved rural paper such as The Review Mirror. Thus, in honour of my dear departed Brother-in-law, Rick, I share a simple photo with you and ask you to pause and perhaps look at it from a perspective you might not have viewed before.

Hold tight to the memories of your loved ones who have passed and treasure the things they once did, and you are sure to feel their presence with you once again.