Dad

This picture was taken some time ago. The quality may not be the best, but with this photo, it is all about the content. This is my father. I was on vacation in January 2005 and decided to drive to St. James and spent a little quality time with the Ol' Man. On this particular afternoon we were driving around the area of his boyhood home, Balaton, Mn. He would point out all the farm houses and let me know who lived there and if they were related to him or just friends. It seems he knew every single farm! He would also talk of riding his horse over to this farm or that and how they would play cowboys and indians or head into the woods and hunt anything that moved. He was truly moved back in time over 50 years and at times he seemed as though he was still seeing things as they were in 1950. For this photo, I was standing in the gravel road as he stood looking at the field that used to be the farm on which he grew up. His parents moved from that farm in 1972 and into the big city of Slayton, Mn. I am not sure how long the run down farm stood empty at this spot, but I do have some very old memories of driving by it as a boy and Dad would get a tear in his eye as we slowly passed the lot. It was amazing watching him standing and looking into what I thought was empty farm field and trying to imagine what he was seeing. This was one of my most fond memories with my father and now, as the sight of his farm would once bring a tear to his eye, it brings one to mine. I miss you Pops.