Inspiration for “While the Sun Shines”

A celebration of childhood memories filled with making hay, ripe canola fields and maybe a bit of wisdom.

While the Sun Shines, 36 × 60, acrylic on canvas

I grew up on a farm. We had fields of grain, cows, a few horses and occasionally some geese. Behind the barn was a field that was often sown to hay to feed the animals. In the spring, my sister and I would wonder on well-worn cattle paths to our fort near the creek where we would spend hours hunting for logs to use as furniture and ways to cross the creek without soaking our rubber boots or getting stuck in the muck. We listened for the tractor, pretending to hide from Dad as he made his rounds of seeding. Later in the summer, we picked alfalfa and smell the ripening canola fields that surrounded us. The sun beat down on the now dry creek bed and forced us to take shelter in our fort while we peeked out to see cloud animals and squint against the blue skies and use our imagination to make a new game in the shade.

As we grew older, it became part of our jobs to cut, rake and bale hay. I never really got the hang of those jobs and often ended up missing bits or binding up the tractor on a turn. Dad always came to the rescue, shaking his head and quietly fixing my errors while my sister teased and my mom chuckled. I usually came in sweating, covered in dust (the tractor didn’t have a cab), sunburned and annoyed that I had to spend my precious summer time doing chores.

It was in those moments that my mom would laugh and remind me that everyone needs to “make hay while the sun shines”.

I usually grunted and stomped off, but the depth of that reminder stuck with me. I knew time was precious and life too short to miss those days of blue skies and sunshine.

Fast forward several years and through an open window on a long drive, the tang of the ripe canola suddenly brought me back. The sky was the bluest blue, the happy kind. The fields were the yellowest yellow like sunshine in flower form. The farm that I grew up on is now home to someone else and Mom and Dad are no longer around to remind me of the life lessons they attempted to instil, but for a moment, I was transported back to a childhood of memories. I smiled, turned to my kids in the back seat and said “Don’t forget to make hay while the sun shines”.

They looked at me with skepticism and said “Okay, mom”. And just like that, the cycle continues.