One day a few years ago, we went to Sandbanks Provincial Park and found a man making this sculpture on the beach.
I took many photos, and my family talked to him at length. Immediately afterwards we moved up the beach to make our own sand castles and sculptures. My daughter was inspired to sculpt sea turtles and incorporate other elements of what she saw into her own work, and still does so to this day. Since then, we occasionally found his sculptures around when we visited the area’s beaches, and had even discovered some of his snow sculptures a couple of years ago on the same wintry beach where he was working a week and a half ago.
We’ve just learned that that man, Harry Farfan – who was only 49 – died on that chilly shoreline. He was doing what he loved – creating sculptures (this time with snow and ice) in Cobourg, Ontario – when he apparently went to sit in his car to take a break. A police officer doing a routine check found him unresponsive in the vehicle; paramedics arrived and administered CPR, then transported him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
I’m deeply saddened that we will never again cross the beach during a glorious, golden, sunset to admire his beautiful work slowly drying and crumbling in the fading twilight.
Harry, I barely knew you but you had a significant impact when you briefly entered our lives that day. You changed the way my little girl looks at the world.
The sense of loss has really filled my heart right now.
It has also served as a reminder to live life fully every day, for even human lives have all the impermanence of sandcastles…
