Jumping to Conclusions

When our kids were young, one of our favorite read-aloud books was called The Phantom Tollbooth. It was about a little boy named Milo who awakens from a nap to find a big box wrapped in a bow waiting to be opened. It turns out to be a little car and a tollbooth, and having nothing better to do, Milo hops in the car and drives through. He finds himself in the Kingdom of Wisdom, and accepts a quest to rescue a Princess. He acquires two faithful companions along the way, and has a world of wonderful adventures in places like Digitopolis (a land of numbers), Dictionopolis (a land of letters) and many other places. The book is full of puns, using lots of idiomatic expressions in the literal sense, and if you love words (like my family does), you will find great humor in the double meanings. One of the many things that Milo does in his travels is to “Jump to Conclusions”. This is very funny in the book, but sometimes, when conclusions are jumped to in real life, they have many more dire consequences … such as in an email I received yesterday from someone about the Tiny House:

“So you WON a tiny house and to promote them your charging $250.00 a NIGHT to stay in it???? I can't think of a worse way to keep people from trying it. The whole idea of Tiny Houses is affordable living within one's means. If could afford $250 to spend a night in a 130sq. ft. room, why would I be interested in Tiny Homes? Plus, you won it! Free! Sounds to me like your more interested in profit than the idea behind the homes.”

Hmmm …. Bummer.
Of course the person who wrote it didn’t know the facts, didn’t know us, and jumped to some pretty wild conclusions about us ‘capitalist greedmongers trying to suck the world dry with our overwhelming desire for profit’.

Of course, who amongst us HASN’T jumped to a conclusion or two ourselves? We all do it from time to time, but how much kinder and gentler a world it would be if we were to ask for clarification first … before we made unwarranted accusations. The world can be far too mean, and it would be far better to give someone the benefit of the doubt than to jump to an untrue conclusion. After all, in America we are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

I could have bristled and barked a response back to him; I might also have ignored him; neither of which would have had a positive outcome. But witnessing so much negativity in the world around us, I have decided not to ‘pay it forward’ but to try to turn it around. I ended up handling it in the following way ( although the whole thing was sort of a downer in what so far has been a month of Tiny House Euphoria). Anyway, here’s what I said to this person:

Dear C----,
I'm really glad you wrote your concerns and are giving me a chance to respond to them. I really appreciate that!


Yes, I did "win" the Tiny House, but I don't own it, the Tumbleweed Tiny House company does. I 'won' the right to have it on my property for the next year, which is really awesome because I have loved these little dwellings from afar for almost 10 years now, and have taken Jay's housebuilding workshop, but had never seen one up close. My 'winning' the contest they held means that I get to show it as a display model to interested folks, and so far, in the month since it's arrival, I have dedicated 2 hours each morning from 10 - noon to do that, and have given 47 other private tours in addition to hosting an Open House last Sunday for 5 hours, in which over 75 people came to see it. It is really neat to meet so many other interested 'little house folk' and kindred spirits ... I have been loving it. However it is also a very large demand on my time, and I have had to hire another staff person to cover the shifts at my inn that I usually cover, when I am dedicating my time to the tiny house. I have been getting dozens of emails a day about it to which I have to personally respond, as well as field numerous phone calls each day. In addition to that, the house came completely unfurnished except for the 2 white chairs that you see in many of Jay's photos. This meant that I had to buy a queen sized futon, sheets and towels, purchase dishes, pots and pans, flatware, material to make the window and door curtains, rugs, 2 tables, material to make shelves under the sink, etc. I also purchased all the wood and paint from which I personally made the shutters, and the hardware and windowboxes for the flowers I also purchased, etc. We> held two professional photo shoots for the house, each over 3 1/2 hours in length; one for the interior, and the next day for the exterior. I had to be on call during that time to provide 'props' for them and to move things around as the photographer directed me. My total costs outside of the large amounts of my time has been close to $2000. When Tumbleweed either sells the house or moves it to its next location, I will recoup $ spent on things like shutters and curtains, and anything the buyer may decide s(he) would like.


Also, we have decided that anyone considering living in or building one should have the opportunity to experience it firsthand. While we are not zoned at our inn to have more than the 32 rooms we already have, we are enabling anyone to have complete use of the tiny house along with one of our 2-person jacuzzi rooms for the $250. Included in that price is a homemade breakfast, use of our grass tennis court and equipment, free use of the river and our gardens, our outdoor pool, homemade afternoon cookies and 24-hour complimentary coffee and tea; free use of the hiking and biking trails at Great Glen Trails. All our guests get special discounts at many restaurants. Also, after our guests check out, I am personally responsible for cleaning the house, from changing the linens if they were used, to making it ready for the next guests.


If you. like the hundreds of others who have looked at it so far this month without staying in it, would like to take a look at it and get a personal tour for free by a crazy house lady who is passionately in love with them, you would be most welcome to see it firsthand by stopping by and I would be happy to show you around. A call ahead of time, though, would be most appreciated. Again, I thank you for your email, and I hope the information here has been of some help to you. Have a great day!

And for a happy ending to the story, I heard back from him:


“Thanks for your reply! Many of the things you discuss in your reply were not mentioned on the website or in the article that I read. It created the impression that you had received the house for nothing. Thanks for the detailed information. Maybe you can put some of this information on the Tiny Houses website as I wasn't the only one who thought the price for a one night stay is a little steep. There is no mention of the other amenities that the rate includes. Unfortunately, I'm an out of work chef (one of many I'm sure) and won't be able to take advantage of your offer to come see the house. Thanks though!”


And so, taking his advice, I decided to blog about this today, giving everyone an opportunity to learn more about our tiny house. Morals of today’s story: 1) It’s important not to jump to conclusions or make pre-judgments without knowing all the facts. We should try to avoid doing this at all costs; it only hurts people and makes us look foolish; and 2) Try wherever possible to match anger with kindness. We can’t change the whole world, only the one immediately around us, and these things will help to make it a better place.