Grandpa Sakata

This is my most favorite pictures of my grandpa Sakata.  Grandpa Sakata was a life long farmer and this picture captures that essence.  He is kneeling down and in his field boots.  His smile is simple yet content...  which is how I remember him.  Simple and content.  He seemed pretty tall although he was not taller than me.  But you know how some folks have that tall stature...he did.  My best memories are of walking out to the fields with him near the house or from the old truck.  I knew he was busy but when I was with him I remember him just checking stuff.  Surveying his crops and making sure everything was just right.  My grandpa also had a wooden furo (bath) outside the house and he would use it often.  He also had his own office that was cluttered with stuff but it had a table for a drink and a chair for him to sit in.  I remember him getting old and so I asked him for one of his hats that he gladly gave to me and I left him with my old drivers license, thinking he could look at my picture.  When he passed away one of my aunts found it in his drawer next to his bed and she wondered the strangest thoughts... did I forget it? or did grandpa take it?  She gave it back to me and I explained to her what really happened.  I miss those days in Waimea, Hawaii on the Big Island.  Rolling hills, fog and mist on the crest of each hill.  The dirt that seemed everywhere at the house.  None of it is there anymore.  The house is gone.  My grandpa and grandma rest in a church a mile down the from the house.  I have great memories of them both.