Little house in Georgia

We read a lot to each other in the early days of our marriage. Most evenings involved reading at least a chapter or two of whatever book we were on, and it seemed we always had several going at once.

Nowadays, however, we don't seem to have as much time for lounging about, reading aloud, and talking over the ideas. Our evenings these days involve eating dinner, playing with the girls, putting them down, and then racing about trying to accomplish whatever it is we want to get done before we collapse. Pretty much nothing productive can be done while they're both awake, other than washing the supper dishes.

So I decided to remedy matters. Recently I tossed one of the books I want to read to Michael into the car, and started reading a chapter or two aloud whenever we were on the way somewhere. We started on the Little House books, which he has never read but has an aversion to based on his impression of the, in his words, cheesy TV show. So I started off with Farmer Boy, thinking that he might more easily identify with the adventures and escapades of a little boy growing up than those of a little girl.

We've just started Little House on the Prairie, and I'm realising, as I read these books, how much my perspective has changed since the last time I read them, which must have been all of ten years ago, at least. I read these books many times growing up, and I always identified with Laura, of course. She writes well, and it's easy to picture her life based on the vivid descriptions. Now, however, I'm seeing things from Ma's perspective.

Pa and Ma's constant battle for survival, facing the elements and bringing calm and comfort to the life they have chosen, is astounding. I read about Ma sitting at home doing the mending while Pa goes off into the Big Woods every day, and wonder whether I could be so calm if our lives involved facing death on a daily basis ('If Pa met a bear or a panther, he must kill it with the first shot, for a wild animal could kill a man before he could reload his gun'). Would I be sitting quietly at home, colouring the butter with carrot juice in the winter because I like everything on my table to be pretty, while Michael was out and about in the snowstorm? What about leaving all their family behind in the Big Woods, and loading up all their possessions in the wagon, leaving behind the beds, tables, and chairs, because 'Pa could always make more'?

These people knew so much about survival, about self-sufficiency and initiative and resourcefulness. When they came to a river, they knew they must cross it, and risked their lives making the ford. Pa and Ma worked so closely at everything, perfectly sizing up the situation and meeting it head-on. They had so little in material wealth, and so much in terms of character and practical experience.

I love this exchange from Little House in the Big Woods:

'No one'd ever starve on your cooking, Caroline,' said Pa.
'Well, no, Charles,' said Ma, 'not while you were there to provide for us.'