On a whim

Link: Smith Mansion in Wyoming in the NY Times

The article is about a father who built this fantastical dream house for his kids on his own over a dozen years. He navigated the structure without a ladder and fell many times during its construction, and it was only later discovered that he never worked with a blueprint. He then fell to his death climbing the pagoda like roof on one of his frequent visits. It's a bittersweet story- since he had been so consumed with the construction of this house, his wife divorced him, took the kids and he eventually lost his life to his own creation. The joyful memories that his daughter had of running up and down its undulating staircases and peering over umpteen balconies were overshadowed by the dark ones from her father's death, and her brother's death, who drowned in a nearby river. The structure is starting to fall apart and the whimsy that it once conveyed is gone.

Although not in line with all the inspirational themes of the other entries, sometimes great things have sad stories.