It is interesting some days to just go where the day leads you. I woke up this morning with no particular order of how or when things had to get done. I just knew what I had to do and rolled with it. I decided to not send my 
son to school this morning as I just wanted a little "us" time and to spend the day together. I had to go a few towns over to take some pictures of homes and I made the promise that we would stop at one of our favorite little restaurants for breakfast.......That was the outline for the day - that was it.
We made it to the first house, got the pictures and then headed into downtown Youngsville to Griffin's Restaurant for some breakfast. As we waited for our order to be taken we watched as the employees banged, slammed and hit the cash 
register. Apparently, it had broken and they couldn't get the drawer open to be able to give change to guests paying with cash. All in all, pretty funny seeing as how no one could get into the cash register - if anything, it means that none of us would be very good "smash n grab" crooks!
For those of you not familiar with this quaint little town, it has a small and short 
"Main" Street. Many of the buildings are from the turn of the century and are still there operating as restaurants, wine shops (Tar Heel Wine Traders that I mentioned in another post), hair salon, balloon shop, etc. Very southern, little town atmosphere. When we walked out we noticed a bulldozer across the street and then we heard it......the "bucket" from that huge bulldozer came down and thus the process of progression had begun. Or had it?
Mesmerized, we both took a seat on the curb to watch. Many of the guests in the
restaurant came out and crowded the front window to watch their little piece of history vanish before their eyes just short of 30 minutes. The store that was being torn down had housed antiques and collectibles. I noticed through the front windows that the storefront was still full of items. It didn't even appear that anything had been removed. I started to ask questions and I was told that the "owner" of the items did not have the time to remove them before the tear down began. I watched as one lady yelled to one of the workers to let her into the shop where she then grabbed several of the items. They weren't rightfully hers but in a matter of minutes they weren't rightfully anybody's.
I just wanted to share some of the pictures that I took within those short 30 minutes. I felt as though I were watching history disappear before my eyes and I wasn't quite sure of the birth that I was witnessing. What is to be built? It is described on the sign below.....New construction with retail. The new shopping destination is to be completed by Summer 2008. As I watch how fast new construction is going up in this area I can believe that it will, indeed, be complete.
The most interesting facet to our adventure was the reaction of the people that live in the town. Most that crowded the store fronts had tears in their eyes. I saw people with their hands to their mouths and most businesses just stood still for the 30 minutes. A portion of the street was blocked off.....we watched as little by little the building was fading and then there was
the big "boom" as the front façade crashed to the pavement with a huge thud. What was left was a huge pile of rubble as the smaller bulldozers and the dump trucks rolled in to remove it heap of memories.
The saddest for me is that it was obvious that the memories that were wiped away today did not just belong to one person; the memories belonged to the entire town. The residents that have lived there their entire lives cried.
I approached the woman that had run into the building to grab a few things and we struck up a conversation. It was a conversation that lasted over 2 hours and has stamped my life forever. I met a new friend today. Out of upheaval, lost 
memories, sadness and a longing for the way things "used to be" a friendship was formed that will last a lifetime.
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