Sunflowers move their blooms to always face the sun. They face the east in the morning and then they track the sun to face the west in the evening. Overnight, they move back to face the east again.
Like clockwork. Like a circadian rhythm. Day in, day out, always facing the sun.
But only young sunflowers do that. They’re growing.
When sunflowers mature, they stop tracking the sun and stay facing the east. They don’t need the sun to grow anymore.
Sunflowers bloom within a 2-week time span. So if you want to see the sunflower state in its prime, you only have two weeks out of the year to do it.
My daughters didn’t want to go with me to the sunflower farm.
“It’s too far.” It’s 45 minutes.
“It’s too buggy.” The bugs only want the flowers, not you.
“It’s too hot.” It’s 20 minutes, tops, then back to the air conditioned car.
“Our good clothes are at dad’s house.” Jesus, we’re not fashion bloggers. The divorce counselor’s warned me about that one. The clothes, especially with teenage girls, would be a much bigger issue than one might think.
In previous years, we did what every family does in the middle of a sunflower field — we take family pictures. I didn’t force the girls to go with me. This isn’t the first year it would be just the three of us (it’s the second) but they’ve been through enough. And I wasn’t in the mood to listen to two teenagers ruin something I find lovely.
I went to the sunflower farm by myself.
The sunflower field was dotted with groups of people. Young couples dipped each other and kissed in front of cameras. Groups of friends got creative with the giant sunflowers in front of their faces. Little kids whined. Moms bribed. Dads chased. Professional photographers were everywhere.
It hurt.
I wasn’t prepared for what it really felt like to be alone with a selfie stick on a nice family’s farm in the middle of Kansas.
I did what I came to do. I dug my tripod into the dry earth. The tripod held my camera phone facing the west, showing off the backdrop of a beautiful Kansas sunset.
I had my own photoshoot. Just me, a camera, and a million sunflowers facing the east with the sun to our backs. The sunflowers didn’t need the sun to grow anymore.
And I am finally my own.
