I really thought that I would be thrilled to see the house go.  It's been so depressing having it standing empty next to us with the holes that show the blackened out insides.  I hated being in my kitchen and looking out the window and seeing the charred chandelier hanging in the dining room over a table with a giant hole in it and toppled over burnt up chairs.

The kids always paused by the window upstairs and looked over at the house.  When our neighbor lived there, they would wave to her from the window and talk to her in the mornings.  The past few weeks, though, they have just commented about how they miss her and there are holes in her house...

I really thought I would be thrilled to see the house go...but it wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be.  In fact, it was really sad to watch.  We watched the big "digger" (that's a Nate term) rip into the house from our window yesterday and I saw things that reminded me of our neighbors.  She loved to wear bright colors and when they got to her bedroom, there were bright colored clothes, dirty and mixed in with the rubble.  I even saw a few warped photo albums and there is a huge pile of Christmas decorations in one corner.  They stopped by today to see if there was anything to salvage - there are a few items on our porch but for the most part, they have nothing.