Andy worked out of town, off the grid last week. He came home to my gimpy thumb, a sick daughter and a very messy house. He grinned through his thick auburn beard, two kids clung to his legs and told me I’d done a good job. Really, I suppose I did. The kids and animals were fed and warm. I was partially fed and warm.
He talked about the week he’d had with four other dudes at the cabin which I am pretty sure I’m not allowed to go into here. Let’s just say the whole work hard, play hard bell rung loudly, daily. He said it is always so weird to be so disconnected for days, to come back and realize how much happens in a week of our life. This led to a long conversation about plugging in and unplugging and what we want, how we want to live.
My mom bought us the Little House series
There’s the wonderful conversation about how it was for our great great grandparents to live – here – not so long ago. And there’s the excitement over reading, each kid wanting my arm around them. And there’s the dark cold outside, our bodies flat under down and wool, our worn book lit by the warmth of my bedside light.
Ruby falls asleep within the first two pages. Margot snuggles her cheetah and chews on every word stopping me every so often to say things like “I especially like real stories like this.” I ask why. “Because then we get to hear a cool story and also learn stuff. It’s awesome.”
It’s easy for me to imagine Andy as Charles, building our log home and telling fireside stories to our girls at night; it’s easy to imagine Margot and Ruby as Laura and Mary, fetching firewood, playing all day in a tree and milking our cow. I could have been Caroline. I would have loved it, I think. It’s easy to imagine me mending clothes, making cornbread and cheese, spending my days caring for the home and family and noticing every detail of the day’s weather, every undulation of the landscape. I know it was harder than hell. But it is oh so easy for me to romanticize pioneer life.
In our world of grocery stores, cars, instagram and running water, I am thankful for the conveniences of today. AND I want a little bit more of less. Our family unit thrives in screen-free, dirt-digging togetherness. I want to appreciate and take advantage of the benefits of technology and advancements, always with one foot in the homestead life of my ancestors. I am Ma. With a headlamp and an iphone.
32 Comments
I feel this way all the time. For me its romanticizing pride and prejudice times. I think I crave the simplicity of things in the past. Time in nature, time with others in a meaningful way, time to really think without a million distractions. That is not to say I dont enjoy the internet, my phone too etc etc. I guess I want one foot in both camps 😉 xxx
Yes! Thankfully, that time is still here for us. It’s just that now, it’s more of a choice, rather than the only option. You know? We have to choose to have meaningful connection with our waitress and family members at the dinner table instead of checking in with our phones, choose to get out in nature instead of {fill in the blank}. We can have one foot in both worlds. Cheers to my and your practice! It’s all a big exercise in practicing what we want.
I so feel you on this.
…headlamp and iphone… love it.
-Angie
I too have to have one foot in both camps……I do feel bad for my childrens love of the TV most days though, so i try to balance it out…..they don’t watch much in the summer at all and I most likely will unplug it come this summer but my husband and I have to be connected as that is how we run our businesses…..
I adore this series of books….will be ordering them promptly….thanks for the reminder. 😀
One of my favorite posts by you – this one touched my heart.
What a sweet post and sentiment: “I want to appreciate and take advantage of advancements and technology, one foot in the homestead life of my ancestors.” I agree, and find it takes making these sort of declarations to make myself separate from the digital world once in awhile. Little House on the Prairie was the first series that taught me what it’s like to be a voracious reader. I couldn’t put them down. Look forward to reading them with my children someday, too.
I’ve been reading your blog for a little while and finally just HAD to comment. I love that you’re reading the Little House books to your girls! Of all the wonderful things my parents exposed my sister and I to when we were growing up, this is one of those that I remember so vividly – my mom in our old papasan chair, my sister and I curled around her wrapped in quilts, reading the whole series together. Its a lovely memory that you’re making for your girls. I love reading what your write. It’s real, beautiful, honest and fun! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much for sharing your memory. It makes me smile huge. I love to imagine my kids having a loving, snuggly memory like yours.
WWMID? (what would ma ingalls do?)
My mantra when packing our family for a trip- especially camping.
love it 🙂
“I am Ma. With a headlamp and an iPhone.” I love that.
i grew up on those books, they shaped my whole life. I loved, loved LOVED those books, and i loved the tradition of my mom reading to anna and me each and every night. we read all of them many times for many years. i think about them all the time, especially the christmas where they had NOTHING but white sugar and then the surprise that happens….but i won’t ruin it in case you haven’t got there yet.
my favorite book was ‘these happy golden years.’
xoxoxoxox
I just started reading the first book to my four-year old also. She sits through chapter after chapter, and I am not sure how much she truly understands, but she seems to be enchanted…As someone who didn’t grow up here, I, too, and fascinated by this account of pioneer life.
My two boys (each just a hair younger than M&R) and I are making our way through the classics – Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, The Jungle Book… I love the bedtime ritual, the questions, the togetherness. My 5 year old asked to sit on my lap tonight as we read – how much longer will that happen!?!
My sister and I always saw ourselves as Laura and Mary, dragging our red “covered” wagon through our 5 acres, lugging stuffed dogs and fake food, pitching our tent. I can’t wait to play the role of Ma someday. I think I will relish it too, with a butter dash in one hand and my cell phone in the other. 🙂
We recently finished Little House and it’s funny how impressed I was this time around with Ma Ingalls; I’m not sure I gave her much thought years ago when I read the books the first time. As a little girl, I was swept up in Laura’s adventures and saw myself through her story, but now I can totally relate to and admire Caroline. That must be one reason why those books are so appealing to all ages – we can always find ourselves in those stories. And even though I don’t give myself much credit sometimes with the things I take care of, after reading your post here, I can see myself as a Ma too. Thank goodness, though, for headlamps and iphones. 🙂
I just love this.
I love this. And I love that you aren’t tied to screens. I love your posts but I love even more that you don’t post as often any more because your family is more important.
We started reading Little House this summer (my husband bought me the entire series when I was pregnant), we made it almost through the first book, then set it down. My kids are a bit young still–4 and 2. But I CAN’T WAIT. I love that series. I was *obsessed* as a kid. I think growing up reading about the pioneer life has influenced mine in so many ways. In fact, I would go so far as to say it has influenced this whole generation of women. Maybe that’s a stretch, but so many of us are getting back to the basics, so to speak. Storing garden onions and pumpkins in the attic, tapping maples for syrup, butchering a hog, making soaps and candles, herbal salves, you name it. I do believe we are the Little House generation of ma’s. With a headlamp and an iphone, mind you.
Oh my heart….I think this is one of my favorites to date. I know what you mean about romanticizing the past. I’ve done it, too…still do; it’s fun 🙂
The Little House series brings back such good memories…I read them all.
And when I first saw this pic on instagram, I immediately started singing, “Sweet life, oh what a neat life….makin’ our dreams come true…that’s me and you.” That’s you and Andy 🙂
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You ARE Ma. I think it’s in the 3rd book where Pa goes east searching for work and Ma is left to care for the girls and homestead through a wild winter. Close, anyway.
Also, chances are Ma blungeoned herself cutting onions at some point, it just didn’t make it into the books.
Such a lovely post!! Not sure if you’ve ever listened to the podcast Stuff You Missed in History Class, but they have an awesome episode on Laura Ingalls Wilder that I’d wholeheartedly recommend. Cheers!
Will listen today! Thanks.
I loved this – thank you!
I never did read this collection….maybe I should borrow them back and do so! In the modern world, I did so enjoy the TV series though! I love that you are creating this loving memory of bedtime reading, made me think of your dad and “Sam the Bear”… me and “Squirmy Wormy”.
You are right, it’s so wonderful always keep one foot in the homestead life of our ancestors. Perhaps that’s why the art of canning fruits & veggies, sewing with just a needle & tread, hiking & fishing, making a pie crust from scratch, live Christmas trees, riding a horse, reading in bed, wood burning fires, and camping will always be such big parts of my fond memories and Oh! there is Camp Tuffit!
Great post Burb! Love you…Mom
First of all, the chances of you having two children that LIVE would be so much less during pioneer days not to mention keeping them alive if they did survive the birth process. Romanticize that you live in a place like Montana, not East LA, where you have the conveniences of life and the feelings of the Old West. Personally, I NEVER would want to live before electricity.
you and andy are SO Charles and Caroline! your family should be the Ingalls for Halloween!
I love that you are reading this series to your girls! My dad read many books to us before bedtime growing up. Our favorite series was this one as well as the Anne of Green Gables books. I felt just the way Margot feels- it is so cool to learn about history in such an enjoyable way! And the memories will always be with them plus you are instilling a love of the written word.
I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to start this tradition too. For now it is just board books before bed which is also quite lovely.
I am new to your blog and I just love it. Thank you for offering up a slice of your day.
oh man, my sister and i loved these books. our parents read them to us, and then we both read the whole series again multiple times when we were older. some of my favorite childhood memories are of my sister and i the woods playing little house on the prairie.