My father, an architect, was hip long before we all knew it I guess. The tiny house trend that has swept the Northwest, especially Portland, has been around fr many years. Many before the current little house people have sought out a simpler life, a small place to call their own, away from all things commercially chaotic, all things related to the daily storms of a normal work or family life. Virginia Wolfe wrote about it, Waldon's book is still popular, some just used their cars to be vagabonds-but many have been building tiny houses for their own inner sanctums for centuries.
So, when I was looking for ideas for The Magical Misfit Book Mobile, I remembered that many years ago-back in the '80's I think, my father had this book called "Tiny Houses". As an architect he really loved it because it had floor plans and was compiled by an architect. It was not DIY by any means, and the houses shown did not cost the whopping amount of money you pay for them today [most in the $60,000 range]-nor did they include extravagant high tech kitchens or facades.
I went to my book shelves in the guest room, as I was sure I had at some time taken the book in my adult years. There was a time in the 90's, before Apifera, before Oregon or Martyn even, when I thought I could find land and plop a little house on it, even if it was just for weekends. I had used the book to dream. I was right, I did have the book and I brought it out last night to show Martyn.
As I opened it up, there was one yellow Post-it Note in the pages, marking a specific tiny house-it was called "Architect's Studio". And on the post it, I saw the familiar handwriting of my father, Bob, and it said,
For me B.D.
It brought tears to my eyes. This was a note to his dream, to have a little studio somewhere all to himself where he could dream and smoke a pipe and be on his own, a vagabond in the woods, dreaming up three dimensional masterpieces.
I knew he never got that studio. He bought small plots of land twice in my years of growing up, to build his dream, but he never was able to afford it, or circumstances changed and other responsibilities of family took over the dream. He remodeled a lot of houses, built us a tree house or two, but he never got to build his own little squatter's paradise.
I was meant to remember that book, and I think my father pops in every time we talk about our plans for the Magical Misfit Book Mobile,
You can do this, there is nothing stopping you, you are unstoppable.
