Library (Part 1): Getting started
A book inspired me as a teenager to build a hand-built cabin as a cozy retreat space from a busy family home.
When I was 12 or 13 years old, I sat at the west end of my family’s long kitchen table and decided that I would build a cabin in the woods. I was paging through a book that I’d checked out from the public library titled “Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties.” I think I was intrigued with the idea of building something. I think also I lived in a busy house with lots of noise and I wanted a place to retreat.
In my imagination, it would be a building 8-feet square and about 8 feet at the peak, sloping down to 5-foot sidewalls. It would have a door on one side. Small windows under the eaves and opposite the door. Inside it would be lined with books. A single bed, maybe a chair and small desk would be the only furniture.
It’s a coming-of-age story. I’m glad I did it. I learned some things about how the world works and I learned about myself and I came to appreciate my brothers and sisters like I hadn’t before.
And maybe it’s a metaphor, but the building didn’t turn out at all like I planned. :)