The Man in Striped Bib Overalls

The man in striped bib overalls. 

We live on the southern border of Minnesota but go to church about 30 miles away in Iowa.  Most weeks, every Wednesday and Sunday I travel the same route through the rural landscape to church activities.  Over time, I started to notice an older gentleman who was regularly outside working in the garden on his acreage.  I would drive by and see him, hoe in hand, as he tended to garden.  Every time I saw him, he was wearing striped bib overalls. 

He immediately brought my maternal grandpa to mind.  My Grandpa Engstrom passed away when I was only two, so my connection to him came through looking at photographs.  And in these photographs, he would sometimes be wearing striped bib overalls as he worked on his farm in rural western Wisconsin.   

Time after time, I would drive past his place and smile and think, one of these days I’m going to stop and take his picture.  Well, I can sometimes be a person who thinks, “someday”, “maybe one day”, “we’ll see if it comes together” instead of just jumping to it and taking something on.

I decided to try to make it happen, even packing my camera and telling myself, “If he’s outside when I drive by this time, I’m going to pull in the driveway and talk with him.”  Well, of course that time he wasn’t there.  So more time passed by until one of our beef customers stopped by and we were chatting.  I knew she lived in the area so I asked for a name – she told me but said, “There was an ambulance there the other day.”  And I thought, well I waited too long, something happened to him and maybe circumstances have changed.  I reached out to someone else who had the same last name and it turned out he was a relative. 

I finally got connected to his wife and I presented her with my request, “Can I come take pictures of your husband?”  It’s a bit of a funny conversation to have with a stranger!  Thankfully they were receptive, yet it would have to wait because he had taken a fall and needed to recover from a broken arm first. 

We made plans for later in the fall and one beautifully sunny Saturday morning, I made my way to their acreage.  I spent an hour walking around with him as he and his wife shared stories about themselves.  I shared how I’d seen him working his garden for years and how I wanted to document the ordinary but beautiful scenes.  He was a quiet, humble man who obliged my lens pointed his direction as we walked among his pumpkins and around the buildings. 

We wrapped up our time together and I thanked them for taking the time to let me come and take photos.  After I sorted and edited the photos, I put together a photo book and sent it their way.  His wife emailed me to thank me and tell me how much they appreciated the photos.

So after over a year of thinking about it, I finally did it.  I got to meet a sweet couple and provide them with photos to treasure in years to come. 

And I got to reminisce about my grandpa along the way.