I had worked my way through a thousand problems, like when the tar paper bulged on the corners, so I used a strap wrapped around the whole house and ratcheted it tight to attach the trim; I had figured that out without using a book, and that was just one of a bunch of ideas that had saved the day. I liked it; I was falling in love with the way my kneecaps knew how to hold a piece of plywood halfway up till I could grab the underside with my hand. Furthermore, I like the way the little house was taking shape, and the way it seemed to double-dog dare be to step in... move in.

— Dee Williams

I never saw this coming - the little house was working its magic, connecting me to people and materials I never would have guessed would find their way into the picture.

— Dee Williams

I think I'm more curious than I used to be - curious about why people live like they do and how they make sense of their time... Do they see how the sun has made it like a champion around the world overnight, and that all day today we get another chance to be brave, to exercise our humanity with boldness and deft precision?

— 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.

— Dee Williams

It was true; books had saved me in my home remodeling projects, but they fell short in teaching me how to trust my instincts, and how to stop thinking with my educated brain and more with my kneecaps and butt cheeks.

— 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.

— 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.

— Dee Williams

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.

— Dee Williams

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.

— Dee Williams

Maybe wasn't love so much as a fear of losing everything I'd accomplished. I was afraid to let go.

— Dee Williams