祖父の畑

My grandfather has a small vegetable plot in the countryside. When summer vacation comes, I go to stay at his house for about a week every year. His house is in an inconvenient place, an hour by bus from the station, with almost no shops nearby. When I was a child, I thought farm work was boring. I was woken at five in the morning, and pulling weeds in the heat was hard. Even so, my grandfather always said with a smile, 'Vegetables quickly lose their energy unless you look at them every day.' At that time I did not really understand the meaning. In the evenings there was nothing to do but watch television, so it was truly boring for a child like me. Last summer, as a university student, I helped in my grandfather's field for the first time in a while. He had turned seventy-five and walked more slowly than before, but he still went out to the field at the same time every morning. Once in the field, just from looking at the colour of the tomato leaves he would say things like 'It needs water' or 'It will be ready to eat soon.' To me they all looked the same, but to him each one seemed to look different. At noon that day, the two of us sat at the edge of the field and ate freshly picked tomatoes just as they were. They were so sweet and delicious that they could not be compared with those bought at a supermarket. My grandfather laughed happily and said, 'Because we gave them a lot of care.' His sunburnt face had the same gentle smile as when I was a child. At that moment I felt I had finally understood his words. Vegetables and people alike grow healthy when you look after them and care about them every day. That may be true of work and study too. I told my grandfather that from next year I would like to come to help sometimes on weekends, not only in summer vacation. He said 'Don't push yourself,' but looked very happy.