“I went to Guatemala to help build a school but left wondering what "help" would really look like... I hadn't prepared myself for how humbled I'd feel, or how hard it would be to find my footing when witnessing a cycle of poverty that seemed to defy any sort of help.” PovertyHumilityHelpThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“I thought: This is what the living do. And I swooned at the ordinary nature of the task and myself, at my chapped hands and square palms, at the way my wrists bent and fingers flexed inside this living body.” BodyLivingOrdinaryThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“The library made me feel safe, as if every question had an answer and there was nothing to be afraid of, as long as I could sort through another volume.” FearAnswersBooksSafetyLibraryQuestionsThe Big TinyVolumes Author:Dee Williams
“If more people understood how nice it is to have a sense of home that extends past our locked doors, past our neighbors' padlocks, to the local food co-op and library, the sidewalks busted up by old trees - if we all held home with longer arms - we'd live in a very different place... We wouldn't feel so alone, no matter the size of our houses or our bank accounts, no matter whether we had good health or congestive heart failure. We would begin to see that each moment presents an opportunity to relax, to notice that the wind has shifted and a storm is coming, or that our friend's toddler has decided to wear dinner instead of eating it. We would see that each minute counts for something timeless and, if we want, we all can find our way inside these big, tiny, moments.” MomentsHomeOpportunityAloneRelaxTimelessNeighborsNoticeThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“Ultimately, I hoped the tiny-house guy was similar to me: a sane person without a big agenda, who simply wanted a way to make sense of the world, to create a new map with a big X in the middle labeled "Home," even if that meant shrinking his world down to the size of an area rug.” HomeMake SenseThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“My friends stood on the ground two feet below me, and miles away from understanding why I would want to sleep on a trailer platform... I couldn't possibly begin to explain what was only beginning to bud inside me: I wanted a home. I wanted to be at home, in the world and in my body (a feeling I had been missing since I'd woken up in the hospital) and somehow, in some as yet undefined way, I knew that windows in the great room and a skylight over my bed were going to help with that.” HomeBelongingThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“I wanted to say a lot but wasn't sure where to start; people don't want to hear about how your heart has melted into the dirt under your house.” HeartHomeHouseThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“That obstinate sense of independence was the biggest challenge I face in building my little house (that, and not always knowing what I was doing). I was stubborn in the way I hated to ask for help. Some people are good at it, asking friends or their husbands to collect ginger ale and crackers at the grocery because they feel nauseous, or standing on the side of the road with a tire iron in one hand, hoping someone will stop to change their flat tire. I'm not like that; I'd rather have a rough stick dragged across my gums than walk to the neighbor's house to borrow sugar or ask for help jump-starting my car.” IndependenceStubbornChallengeAsking For HelpThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“Grief makes gravity heavier and air molecules denser, so breathing is accomplished in a shallow, half-hearted way.” GriefBreathingGrievingGrief And Loss Book:The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir Source: The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir
“Letting go of "stuff" allowed the world to collapse behind me as I moved, so I became nothing more or less than who I simply was: Me.” StuffLetting GoBeing YourselfMaterialismThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“I had no idea that "letting go" would be so complicated; that it would sometimes feel liberating and other times more sorrowful and lonely. In the long run, most of it was like standing on the shore, watching your family set sail for America, and they're smiling and waving good-bye, and getting smaller and smaller, but you are still the same size with no one to talk to.” LonelinessSorrowLetting GoLiberationThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“he had kidded with us that if we didn't let go at the proper moment, he would slap our hands with a stick, and we had all laughed because who would be silly enough to hang on when they should let go?” Letting GoThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“I've never been good with asking for help; it seems risky, but at some point when things are really dicey, your stubbornness gives way to a certain form of humility that, after you get over yourself, feels liberating. I started to believe that the universe was conspiring to help me finish my house, sending people along at the right moment.” UniverseHumilityLiberatingStubbornnessAsking For HelpThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“The Internet is dumb. The Internet, with all its access to brain research, anthropology journals, social studies networks, and biographies and autobiographies, can't begin to map the complexity of our lives, or how we each affect others.” InternetComplexityThe Big TinyAffect Others Author:Dee Williams
“Over time, I realized I wasn't necessarily seeing people or things at their best or worst; instead, I was simply seeing things as they were. There didn't seem to be a moral high road to take in most situations, and "What's the right thing to do?" wasn't an easy question.” MoralityThe Big TinyThe Right Thing Author:Dee Williams
“I imagined that a better world would be less complicated, less involved, and with less need to mass produce doorknobs and lock sets, electric outlets, power cords, frozen chicken wings, packages of steak, rubber bands, and a million little foam earbuds that slip over the broadcasting end of an iPod. I'd stand staring at Jenna's room, the recycling porch, and imagine what my life would be like if I could squeeze all my worldly possessions into a space like that.” SimplifyComplicationMass ProductionThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“The more I took note of how my body and brain clicked along through the day, the more I realized that I spent a considerable amount of time banging around with a brain full of chatter; a rush of things to do, bills to pay, telephone calls, text messages, e-mails, worrying about my job or my looks, my boobs or my ass; I rushed from thing to thing, multitasking, triple-timing, hoping to cover all the bases, avoiding anything that might disrupt the schedule or routine. At times, I was so caught up in the tempo and pattern, the predictable tap, tap, tap of each day, that there was no time to notice the neighbors had moved out, the wind was sneaking in from the north, the sun was shifting on its axis, and tonight the moon would look like the milky residue floating inside an enormous cereal bowl. I wondered when I had become a person who noticed so little.” RoutineRushingChatterMultitaskingNoticeScheduleThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“I felt like a champion because I was figuring shit out. I was a doer and a getter-doner, and it was okay to be identified by the neighbors as the little lady who had a dump truck of manure delivered, a load that made the entire neighborhood smell like a dairy barn for weeks.” ActionChampionDoerThe Big Tiny Author:Dee Williams
“I was a let-er-goer and she was a hanger-on-er, but that doesn't mean I don't lean into her territory every once in a while.” SimplicityTiny Homes Book:The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir Source: The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir