The wall is coming down!

So we live in a duet. That's a series of duplexs. Duplex houses are two houses connected together by one wall. We have wonderful neighbors and our connecting neighbor is never any trouble at all. We never really hear them but I still know that I share a wall with another family. It bothers me sometimes but overall I am extremely happy here in our house in San Ramon. We have a huge yard and we've made our home very comfortable and cozy. We've converted the garage to be a den so the kids have a place to go when they want to play their assorted video games or watch a show that we don't want to watch. We're very comfortable here. Except there was this half wall that separated the living room and dining room. It was added and is not an original part of the house so we know it's not a load bearing wall. It really cut up the two rooms and made them both feel a little crowded and closed in. I have always wanted to take the wall out and after a year of saying that I REALLY wanted it done, Bryan finally agreed and started taking out the wall. He took his time so as not to make a mess. What a guy. (I make it sound like he took forever. He didn't. It only took about two days for him to dismantle the majority of the wall.) I finally told him that I didn't care if it there was a mess because it was worth it. The wall is the start of a year long renovating process that I willing want to go through. Most people would say I'm crazy, wanting to go through remodeling. We've lived in our house for 9 years now and it really needs to be updated. We hope to sell it in a few years and I don't want the new owners to get all the benefits of our remodel. I want to enjoy it too. We don't know how long we'll be living here so while we're here, I want to enjoy my home. It has a lot of potential too. Anyway, back to the wall. My brother-in-law came and helped to finish the job. They had it done in about an hour. Who knew that a sheetrock mess would make me so happy. After some clean up, and then some more clean up and I'm sure later on there will be even more clean up, the house looks so much bigger and so much more open. I absolutely love it. I feel like I have so many more options now and the process is now started. It all began with the removal of a wall. So again, I started thinking about that cliche of tearing down walls. We all have them. Some are just half walls with windows in them but they still close off and divide. They still block a process that opens up new possibilities. The wall was put there for a reason but it's been there so long and the reason for the wall has been long forgotten. It's no longer a positive or helpful thing. It's in the way. It needs to go. You can remove it slowly and it may even be less painful and messy that way. You don't have to take a sledgehammer to it. Sometimes that does more damage than necessary. As Bryan slowly removed the wall piece by piece he was able to see how the wall was constructed. He even found the original plans on a piece of the internal workings of the wall. If we search our heart and try to discover why the wall was there and how it was built it gives us insight into how walls are built and even how to dismantle them. There will be a mess afterward no matter how careful you might be. The mess is worth it. It opens things up, makes room for other possibilities and starts a process of change that we are now willing to go through. We just have to let the Carpenter take us apart piece by piece. He'll be gentle if we're but willing.