Our Tiny Living Story - Part 1
Tosha Tingey • May 10, 2019
Our Journey to Tiny Living
Jon and I have lived in Utah while we were dating and through over a year of our marriage. We had just had our baby girl and apparently that wasn’t a big enough change because we were feeling antsy for something more. We both felt like there was something that we were supposed to be doing but couldn’t quite put a finger on it. As the weeks and months wore on the anxious feelings got worse.
Jon was working a 9-5 job that included some travel and I was working weird hours at the hospital. During one of Jon’s lunch breaks he surprised me by coming home and taking Addie and me to grab lunch and go for a drive. With our lunch in sacks on our laps, Jon turned to me and asked, “Up or down?” I chose down and off he drove.
A few minutes later we arrived at Utah lake. This had become a favorite spot of ours to take Finnick on a walk and let him play in the water. We parked the car and faced the large reflective waters.
We sat in silence for some time then Jon asked, “What are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know.” I replied, “but we are supposed to be doing something.”
For the thousandth time we talked about just packing up and leaving this town and traveling the country. As we watched the wide open waters it seemed almost possible to do the impossible.
With a long sigh the reality weighed back on us. We both had good stable jobs. We lived close to family. We had a decent apartment, if you dismiss the upstairs neighbors playing piano at 5:30am. It just didn’t seem to make any sense to throw all of that away.
“I wish we could do something like that.” Jon said as he pointed to a tiny house parked in the campground. “I’m going to go talk to them.”
“What? You can’t just go knock on some random stranger’s door and ask to see their house.”
But I am so glad he did. We ended up meeting Stacy who was lives in a tiny house with her husband and 3 sons. She raved about tiny living and how much they loved it. I never thought tiny living was doable with a family but she showed us that it wasn’t just doable, it was extremely enjoyable.
As we drove back home there was a palpable change in our spirits. It wasn’t just a feeling of hope, but it was also a sense of direction.
Within just a few weeks we met with a few other tiny house families, met a contractor, designed our own home, and applied for a loan, and told our parents. Everything fell into place and we were excited to start this new adventure.
Our Tiny Living Story - Part Two
I was walking to my car after work when I got the text. “We didn’t get the loan.” I was shocked, confused, and discouraged. I felt like everything was pointing us in this direction and now it all fell apart. For the next couple of weeks, I was in a funk. I felt like we were right back to where we started but now I was even more confused and discouraged.
Before heading to work one day, Jon told me he had a surprise that would cheer me up when I got home. Upon my return, he sat me down in front of the computer and told me that I couldn’t say anything until he was done. He then proceeded to show me a slideshow. I SO wish I had it saved but I can't find it. It was very thoughtfully done.
As I sat through the slideshow, the whole time I was thinking how impossible and crazy this all was and how this would never happen. But Jon was so excited and put so much effort into his PowerPoint, that I didn’t think I could crush his sweet little spirit so quickly, so instead I said I would think about it.
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