Ma

One of my earliest childhood memories involves me crying because I wasn't allowed to stay up to watch "Little House on the Prairie" one night. It was really upsetting. I can picture walking up the stairs from the basement bawling. I'm not sure why I wasn't getting to watch Laura and gang that night since it was on at only seven o'clock, but I wasn't.

How I loved that show. What little girl in the seventies didn't? I read the books later (I made sure to not let that happen to my kiddos, just letting you know before you say something about it. You know who you [all] are.) and they just further deepened my love.

Though I adored Laura, that wasn't the character who has made its way into my psyche. It's Caroline Ingalls. Ma.

Her spirit. Her attitude. Her everything.

I mean, seriously? The way she loved her family. The way she submitted to her husband. The way she worked tirelessly. Such a Proverbs 31 woman.

Honestly, though, it took me awhile to view her as all of that because first in my mind she was a pioneer woman. Man, oh, man. She could do anything.

The first time I felt a kin to her was when I make my first batch of homemade jam. I was so stinkin' proud. Especially because the kids and I had picked the peaches ourselves. I distinctly remember turning to my friend and saying, "I feel just like Ma Ingalls." It was like something in me rose up and bubbled over in excitement in the same way the fruit bubbled on my stove top.

Then, when I ground my own wheat for the first time, I felt it again. 'Course Ma didn't have an electric wheat grinder like I do, but... whatever. Baking my own bread did it again.

Those things made me feel accomplished as a homemaker, but that's not why I love Caroline Ingalls. I appreciate her spirit. On so many levels. The way she smiled at her husband in support. The way she talked with him, even when she disagreed, was always so loving. The way she was firm, but kind with her children. The way she loved serving her family. She was always gentle without being a wimp.

While I've heard people say, "I'm no Ma Ingalls."
I wish there were more. I picture her occasionally in my mind. I smile. I think it would be nice to be more like her in many ways.

(Except for the sewing.)