07/29/2018
“I’ve been thinking a lot about my legacy lately. I want to build a tiny home for each of my kids and grandkids before I die.”
Sunshine builds tiny homes out of salvaged parts. She believes anything can be used to build a home. Anything is salvageable.
Sunshine left home at 13, and had her first child at 14. She wanted to truly know her kids and for them to know her. That meant going off the grid to build their first tiny home together away from the noise and grind of society. They had to figure out how to live together, how to be resourceful, and how to communicate effectively in a small space.
“There were times that I had a child on my back while dragging a door down the road because it wouldn’t fit in my car,” she reflects with a smile. Salvaging is hard work, shes says, but extremely rewarding. This lifestyle connected her to the earth, to her family, to a greater power.
For a time Sunshine followed a more conventional route. She got a corporate job and a regular sized house. Eventually, she ran her own construction company.
It wasn’t until surviving a terminal illness that Sunshine felt called again to simplify and return to the world of tiny homes.
Her ultimate mission, she says, is to heal her family nucleolus, which begins first with healing herself. Sunshine holds up a wood-carving of she did of herself cradling her grandson, Moon, while learning to fly.
Sunshine recently joined the crew at Tiny Texas Houses a tiny house village, workshop, and warehouse in Luling, Texas. She felt called to this place and has found a supportive, loving community. “Everything that I’ve done in my life has led me to this place.”