This barn has seen five generations, standing strong as the centerpiece of the McCurdy family farm. This year, my Grandpa Blair made a decision that would seemingly leave a gaping hole in the farm, but instead taught a powerful lesson about life and love.
The barn, as it was being stripped down board by board, reveal the painstaking workmanship that went into its creation. Boards hewn by hand. Wooden pegs holding them all together. Craftsmanship that would be carried forward as the barn was dismantled and repurposed as a private home. Craftmanship that was hidden for so many years as we took it for granted and saw it only as "the barn". We ran and played there. We hid there. We laughed there. But we never looked beyond the structure itself to what lay hidden there for us to learn from.
How often to we take things at face value and not take the time to delve deeper to find out more about another person? To find out more about a story we heard? To realize that things are rarely what they seem to be and often so much more. We miss a lot because we live in a fast-paced society. We miss a lot because we're self-involved. We miss a lot because we just don't stop to consider what we could miss if we didn't stop.
The boys loved playing in the barn. They had an amazing fort built in it and would spend hours down there together. Yet, with all the time they spent there, the barn became a whole new world when it started to come down board by board. They were amazed to see the hatchet/axe marks on the boards, questioning how anyone could possibly have cut all these boards by hand. They were amazed at the hand-cut wooden pegs that held everything together. They were amazed that this place they had always thought was amazing was even more amazing than previously thought.
A hole will surely be left when the barn is gone, but the memories made and the lessons learned within its walls from the first board that was placed to the final board that was taken down will last a lifetime.
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