A House Can Be Replaced But Memories are FOREVER....

So yesterday was one of those life altering days....

Four years ago my parents bought an old fraternity house...the house of the fraternity that my husband was a member of and I was a sweetheart for the chapter!!! I was still pregnant with Mikayla (by a few days) when they "closed" on the house. The property came with the Main House (DU House) and the Garage Apartments (the GAP). Our goal was/still is to make the main house our real estate office and the GAP will be totally renovated as a two unit garage apartment. After many revisions the city gave us permits to start re-habing the GAP in June 2009. Since August 2009 this rehab has been my main goal. It's finally to the point where cabinets, trim and doors and painting were all scheduled to happen this week.

Yesterday, between the hours of 2 and 3 am a fire broke out in the main house!! Take a moment...yes, the house burned down! (ok it's still standing, just missing the attic and most of the second floor) What a way to start a Monday.

At 6:45 am (I'm still sleeping) my dad calls and says there has been a fire at the DU House. ( I later discover I missed a text at 5 am from Michael's cousin who saw it on the news) Michael tells me he will swing by on his way to work. I get up, brush my teeth get Mikayla dressed when Michael calls to tell me that the DU House has been on fire, firefighters are still there and he's not certain but it looks like the GAP is still standing. My parent's are on their way from way west Fort Worth...I call and tell them what Michael said and load Mikayla in my truck and head over...

Two fire trucks are still there...along with the Fire Commanders (?) suburban and the Fire Marshal's Tahoe. They are done "fighting" the fire...in fact I think most of the fire fighters were packing up (which is a long process in and of itself) but there are a few still walking the house making sure there aren't any "flare" ups. The Fire Marshal is doing his thing by trying to ascertain where the fire started and possibly determine what started it.

What's truly amazing, is that the GAP the place I have poured my blood, sweat and tears into...and is located a mere 15 feet from the burned building...is ok. I mean it's OK! Not a stick of wood was touched by the fire or is damaged from smoke... amazing!

Mikayla and my mom sit across Thornton Street on a tire stop in the parking lot...looking like displaced people and we don't live there... we were just hoping to rehab it to have an office with some rental income. Mikayla asking questions and mom answering them.

I walk around taking pictures and answering questions when I can. I watch my dad do his "dad engineering" thing... which means he is doing his best to answer questions and being as helpful as he can walking around and amazingly not getting too dirty. I look over and see my daughter talking to my mom. I walk over and Mikayla points out that this beautiful, old pecan tree. She wants me to know that it's going to be ok because the tree just only got burned in the middle and the rest of the tree is ok. WOW! Not only was she incredibly patient for over an hour and a half but she was way insightful. To look at things through the eyes of my child...

So this leads me to the highlight of the morning. Mikayla got a very personal tour of a fire truck!! All of the guys were really great in dealing with her and she was able to get up in a fire truck. The fire fighter opened all of the nooks and crannies of the truck and showed her some pretty cool equipment. Of course when she got in the truck she had her hands covering her ears (the truck just running, no sirens, is kind of loud) she noticed the roll of stickers!! They gave her 10 or 12 for being great at the scene and she was in HOG HEAVEN!

So, to the old DU House...thanks for the memories. Luckily, it is just a house...it can and will be rebuilt. People are precious and memories are forever!