Life's Detours

September 2019, Somewhere in Central Pennsylvania

“I have always wanted to visit Canada. I can’t believe I never made it there even though I lived so close! I have been told that we are going to want to move to Toronto!” Sylvia said from the passenger side of the car.

“You are such a country girl, I just can’t imagine you thriving in the city,” replied her husband, Ryan.

“True, babe. If I can see another house from my window, I get cranky! And I love waking to the sounds of roosters! But I am really excited to see Niagara Falls!”

“Me too. I have seen the pictures, but from what I hear, pictures don’t do them justice. We have to ride the boat that goes under the falls. I bet that is an incredible view!”

“We are going to have the greatest honeymoon ever!”

Suddenly, Sylvia exclaimed “Hey, take this exit. I want to show you something.”

Sylvia gave Ryan directions through a little town. “Where are we going baby? We are out in the boonies, are you sure you know where you are going?”

“Yes, darling, I know exactly where I am going.”

Finally, she said, “That’s it! Stop! Pull over!” Before Ryan even had the car in park, she jumped out and ran over to a barn, dilapidated and run down, a victim of fire.

“Oh no! Look at this place! It is everything that I remember and yet, it is destroyed!”

“Honey, what is this? Why did you bring me here?”

“Ryan, this is my childhood home, I lived here until my mother’s death. This barn means so much to me. I used to care for our animals here. I spent many hours here, feeding and petting them. I would come out here and think, or to cry. It got me through a lot of hard times. I am so sad that it has been destroyed. I wonder what happened to it?”

2001 Flashback

Sylvia was devastated. How would she ever get over this? She could not believe that she would never see her mother again. Her mother was only 40 years old. How could she be gone? To 12 year old Sylvia, she just didn’t know how she would live without her mother.

After the funeral, Sylvia rushed to her room, changed out of her formal clothes, donned her barn wear, and ran to the barn. Her barn. Her place of comfort. Where she could go and get away from her problems. A place where there was no school, no doctors, no tubes, no chemo. Her horse, Sparkles, greeted her. She hugged Sparkles and rubbed her snout. “Oh Sparkles, how am I going to live without her? I just don’t know what to do! Who is going to help me with my homework? Teach me about boys?” Sparkles snorted at her. “Oh it is no use, my life is over. I just want to die.” She fell asleep in a haystack and around midnight, her father came and brought her to her bed.

The next several months, Sylvia would spend a lot of time in the blue barn tending to her animals and trying to come to peace with her mother’s death. She was getting through it, struggling in school, but it was her animals who brought her comfort. “Thank goodness school will be over in a few weeks and I won’t have to worry about that!”

The next day, when her father got home from work, he made the announcement that they would be moving in with his sister, Betty, at the end of the school year. He said that he needed Betty to help him with the house and with Sylvia. He has been working two jobs to pay off the hospital debt. Sylvia once again felt like her life was over. The barn was the only thing she had left, and she was losing the barn. She loved her Aunt Betty, but she didn’t want to go.

Her dad sold the house with the barn and all of the animals, except for their dog, Daisy, and Sparkles, the horse, who they were able to board nearby. Sylvia adjusted to life with Aunt Betty. She liked her new school, was able to make friends, and even had a boyfriend.

Occasionally, she would sneak out of the house, and walk the five miles to the old blue barn. She would hide in there when she was feeling sad, lonely, or anxious. She knew she was trespassing, and luckily the new owners never found her. Even though many of her animals were gone, she still found the barn healing. The last time she went to the barn was right after graduation, when her boyfriend broke up with her. For the third time, her life was over. She was starting college at Penn State in a few months and she knew that she would never see this barn again.

September, 2019

Sylvia finished telling Ryan her story and he held her. He told her he thought it was a wonderful barn. As they looked around the abandoned and neglected barn, they noticed that Sylvia’s doodles still remained on the pillars.

“Thank you for bringing me here, babe” Sylvia said as she wiped away the tears.

“Thank you for bringing me here, Vie. I can see why you love this barn so much, and why it means so much to you. I feel even closer to you now, and I didn’t think that was possible.”

“I am ready to see the Falls now!” Sylvia responded.

An hour later, Ryan’s phone rings. “Hey brother, I know you are on your honeymoon, but man, you need to come home. There was an accident. Mother and Emily were in the car and Mother is in bad shape and isn’t expected to make it. Emily is ok but has a broken pelvis.”

Ryan says to Sylvia “I am so sorry Vie, but we have to go home. My mother and sister are at Milton S Hershey Medical Center. They were in a bad car accident and Mom might not make it. I have to go be with them.“ “Of course, Ryan, let’s go home.”

January, 2020

“I have always wanted to visit Canada. I can’t believe I never made it there even though I lived so close! I have been told that we are going to want to move to Toronto!” Sylvia said from the passenger side of the car.

“Babe, I am so glad that our trip is finally happening. After the last few months, we really need this. Thank you for hanging in there with me through Mom's and Emily’s therapy. You are the best.”

“Honey, there isn’t anywhere I would rather be. At your side, through the good and the bad.”

They drove along in silence for a little while, when Ryan took an unexpected turn. “Babe, why are you getting off here?” “Shh, honey, I want to show you something.” “There is nothing out here, though, just my old run down barn.” “I know, babe, I know.”

Twenty minutes later, they pull up to the old barn. Only ... it looks brand new! It has been restored to its original blue, Sylvia’s favorite color. “Ryan! What is going on? It looks like it did when I was a kid” she gleefully screams as she gets out of the car. Inside, everything was returned to its original condition, complete with horse stalls and hay stacks. “I don’t understand, what is going on here?”

“Baby, your story touched me. After the accident, when my mother was in ICU, and Emily in therapy for her broken pelvis, I thought I lost everything but you. This barn is an extension of you. I remembered what you said about the barn, and I came out here several times. It affected me the same way it affected you. I knew then that I had to return the barn to you.”

“But how” Sylvia asked? “Never mind. We are going to fill the barn with horses and chickens. We are going to build a new house right over there. Toronto and the city will be nice to visit, but this … this is our home.”

Rubbing her belly, with tears in her eyes, Sylvia says, “She is going to love growing up here.”