David McGrath’s wife, Marianne, left, and daughter Jackie perch on the family’s unfinished cabin during construction in 1986 in northwestern Wisconsin.
By the end of the meal, whether it was from eating food or from resting my elbow on the table, I was able, with concentrated effort, to raise the paralyzed arm before retiring to my rented room upstairs. I thought about that the next day, after my arm had mostly recovered, while I set about digging 24 holes, 4 feet deep, in which to sink the 6-by-6 treated lumber posts that would form the cabin’s foundation.
In other corners of the world, that may be only a pipe dream. But in the United States of America, I was able to get a builder’s loan from a bank and stake our claim. I toiled alone, except when Marianne and our three young children hiked through the woods from a rented house to bring me lunch every day at noon and when I had to hire licensed professionals for the well and septic in accordance with county regulations.