Listening to my friend Rachel talk about her daughter's recent enchantment with Anne Shirley (of Green Gables, of course) reminded me of my own love of Anne. I read everything by Lucy Maud Montgomery over and over again. But that love was nothing compared to my obsession with Laura Ingalls Wilder. My first grade teacher, Mrs. Copley, read Little House on the Prairie to our class every afternoon. I was so in love with the book that when she finished reading it she presented it to me. I carefully printed on the inside cover:
"Mrs. Copley gave this to Natalie
1st Grade 1976"
I quickly made my way through the entire series, picking out my favorites as I went. Little Town on the Prairie, The Long Winter and These Happy Golden Years were the ones I read over and over. And over. And over. Some people eat for comfort, I read my soft, squishy, yummy books.
The older I got, the more fascinated I became with the woman behind the books: the real Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read every biography I could get my hands on. I even read the articles that she wrote for the Missouri Ruralist about being a farm wife.
Mom and I went on a pilgrimage to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Mansfield, Missouri. This may be the point where keen interest crossed into obsession. While we were there we saw Pa's fiddle and Laura's writing desk among so many other things. Years later I went on a camping trip with a boyfriend who was nice enough to let me include a side trip to De Smet, South Dakota. I was able to walk among the Cottonwood trees planted by Pa Ingalls and I strolled down the same Main Street described in Little Town on the Prairie. Books bring things to life, both real and unreal.
Yes, I'm a huge dork but it's not my fault! I blame Mrs. Copley!
Isn't Laura pretty? Her hairstyle is the one she calls "Lunatic Fringe" in Little Town on the Prairie.
This is her desk where she wrote all her books on legal pads.
Her house in Mansfield, Missouri.
The Cottonwoods that Pa Ingalls planted in De Smet, South Dakota.
Pa & Ma's house in De Smet. The organ is the same one that Pa & Laura purchased for Mary.
Hunky Almanzo Wilder.
The Ingalls family, looking a bit grim.
Laura, the farm wife.
3 comments:
Oh I love her, too! I've read all the books over and over.
Oh my Mom loves her too and all the books and the tv show. She used to have dreams about churning butter, beating the dust off of rugs with a stick and walking to school carrying her books with a leather belt tied around them. My Mom always said that she wished she would have lived then and thinks that she was born at the wrong time.
I've always found your obsession with all things Ingalls Wilder very endearing. My obsession is with Earl Hamner and the Waltons so I can relate. I hope Hannah will learn to love the books as much as you do. What a gift.
Post a Comment