"Chanile Joetta Alexander—Master of Architecture."
"That's my baby girl!" her father shouted as she accepted her diploma.
She heard him all the way up on stage and hollered back, "I love you, Daddy! This is for you and Momma!"
Walter Alexander had always been proud of his little girl, but today his heart was bursting. All those double shifts, all that overtime, all of the sacrifices and...the loss of his wife. The last thing he wanted to do was cry, but when he thought back on the last ten years it was all he could do to hold it together.
He and his late wife, Lucinda, had no idea how they'd pay for it, but they knew they'd find a way because their daughter HAD to go to college. The strain it put on their marriage was oftentimes overwhelming, but neither of them ever complained. Nor did Chanile, who worked part-time while carrying a 3.87GPA throughout her four years as an undergrad before telling them she wanted to pursue a masters degree and become a certified architect. The breather they'd both hoped for turned into an even bigger burden; one they willingly strapped on and carried until Lucinda was suddenly gone.
The stress had taken its toll and Lucinda suffered the brunt of it dying of a stroke at the age of 49. He'd wanted to curl up and die too, but every time he looked at his beautiful daughter, he steeled himself for another double shift and just kept on going. And today, all of it—ALL of it—had been worth it.
Chanile had done her part and worked as hard as any student could while still earning what money she could in the university's work-study program. She bussed tables, washed dishes, mopped floors, and did any job she could to help out. In addition to her superb performance getting her BA, she continued doing the same in her master's program and graduated with a very respectable 3.68GPA.
She knew that might not be enough to work for the most prestigious firms in the greater Seattle area, but that was just fine with her. She had a dream and plan and that didn't require living in a fancy apartment downtown or making six figures her first year out of school. Sure, she wanted to be successful. She just had her own idea of what success would look like.
By any objective standard, Chanile was already a success. She was the first person in her family to graduate from college and she was determined to be the first person to own a home. Her own home. Okay, it was going to be what people called a 'tiny house' but by the grace of God, she was going to own one someday soon.
The idea came to her when her father had left the TV on one day while Chanile was home studying. Her dad had been watching a show on called Tiny House Nation before leaving for his second job. As it ran, he'd made several comments about how wonderful it would be to own his own home, even if it was a tiny little house like the one featured in the show. Chanile hadn't really been paying attention, but something caught her eye and after a few minutes, she closed her books and moved over to the couch and turned up the volume. For less than $50,000 people were having small, custom-built homes made for them. As a future architect, she loved the way people used every square inch of the small space to cram in every convenience they felt was important. Some had full showers, washer-dryers, and all had small kitchens, sleeping areas, and many had lofts with ladders for stairs which could be be neatly tucked away when not in use. She watched three episodes in a row and by the time the third one ended she was so excited she couldn't sit still. Her dad had already left for work so she had no one to share it with, but the seed had been planted and once Chanile made her mind to pursue something, it was only a matter of time until she had it.
Chanile was just weeks away from competing her masters degree and that weekend she began drawing up plans for her own home. As she did, she researched tiny homes in her area to learn who built them, where one could 'park' them, and as much other information as she could find out. She knew her friends she'd grown up with would think she was crazy, but as much as Chanile loved them, she was different from them in so many ways. They listened to hip hop, she loved classical music. They talked in a street dialect and Chanile spoke with perfect diction. They valued partying and fun while Chanile saw education and hard work as her kind of fun. They would view it as living in a jail cell while she saw it as an adventure filled with opportunity. After a few years, she could trade up for a better home and maybe even start a family—her other dream in life.
The one area where her future plans were causing problems was with her boyfriend. She'd been dating Daekwon Lewis off and on since high school and lately he'd been making overtures about settling down and maybe even getting married. Chanile wanted to do both but not necessarily with him because as much as she liked him, she knew she didn't love him.
He'd been her first back in high school and he was a very attentive and very skilled lover. However, he didn't share her biggest dreams of education, owning a home, and raising a family. He'd finished high school and found work at the docks around Puget Sound, but he was intent on staying in Seattle at all costs. Moving anywhere else just wasn't in his plans and the thought of living in a tiny house in a suburan area was something he found ridiculous.
"Where you gonna put that thing? There's no real estate in Seattle to set a trailer down," Daekwon told her when she told him about her idea. She tried telling him it wasn't really a trailer even though it could be moved and that there were other places to live besides downtown Seattle. "Not with me," he'd told her. "Baby, we can get us a nice apartment here in the city and you can get a good job at one these big firms and be livin' large in no time!"
When she told him her first priority was home ownership, he nearly lost it. "So you gonna throw all of this away to live in some shoebox out in Hymietown? Get real, girl. We black and everything we love be right here in the city. Why you wanna move to some place where everyone and everything be white? That don't make no sense!"
Chanile did lose it when she heard what he'd said. "Daekwon, I really like you and I'm willing to consider a life with you, but you know I hate it when you talk like that. People are people. Period. And for the record, there are few if any Jews in the suburbs of Seattle so if you want to use a pejorative term like 'Hymietown' at least learn to use it correctly. No, even that's not okay. You need to just stop it already with that kind of talk."
She thought back on how he strode straight for the door and said, "You gonna have to chose, Chanile. Me or your cracker...box. If you ever come to your senses, give me a call." With that, he was gone and she hadn't heard from him since.
She found herself busy cramming for finals while still working two jobs and constantly tweaking the plans for her new home, while scheduling a couple of job interviews. She laughed when she thought about a social life. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been on a real date let alone slept with someone. 'Dates' with Daekwon meant hanging out out his place or hers and just talking or maybe taking a walk somewhere. "Patience, girl," she kept telling herself. "Good things come to those who wait."
She went to the first interview in the city of Kent, about 15 miles south of Seattle and was offered a job but it just didn't feel right. The pay was good and started at $75,000. Her father practically begged her to take it, but it was what she wanted. "Daddy, I've got time. There'll be other interviews and other jobs. Trust me, okay?"
She had an interview scheduled for 10am clear out in tiny little Enumclaw, which was about 35 miles southeast of Seattle. She'd only been there once before and that was because she and her friend got lost going to a concert when she was 18. It was a quaint little dairy-farming town right at the base of the Chinook Mountains and from what she could tell as she drove back into it, Daekwon had been correct. It looked to be about 99% white. Chanile had been raised to look at people, not skin color, yet she had to admit it was a very different vibe from downtown Seattle with its very eclectic and diverse population. But different didn't necessarily mean good or bad, it just meant—different. And Chanile knew that different could sometimes be fun and exciting—like designing one's own tiny house.
She was interviewing with a family-based business called 'Bennett Enterprises' that was growing rapidly and desperately in need of an architect. From the moment she walked into their office, she was thrilled with how they treated her. The owners, an older couple named Paul and Sarah Bennett, interviewed her as a team. "If we hire you, you'll become part of the family so we always interview potential family members together," they told her.
After asking a series of standard questions, they began probing for details about her character. Clearly, it mattered to them who she was as much as what credentials she had. Satisfied, they asked to see examples of her work. She laid the large, thick, leather portfolio in front of them and began by showing them the blueprints for her tiny house.
