At the library the other day with my little son, stranded in the children's section with him, I browsed some titles. Yes, there I was in the children's section searching for something to sate my OWN literary needs. I've grown so tired of indulging my son in his love for the Berenstain Bears, and so sick of Clifford. Why people write such crap, I dunno, but my son loves it so I'm forced to pretend to love it too, because I love him so much. And that leaves me little time to expand my own mind.
So I found a series that is as simple as my mind, and as pure as the earth & trees. Little House on the Prairie. I'd never read those books. So I grabbed one and opened it up. But only after the hubby took over (for the evening anyway) the endless task it is to entertain our child.
All at once as I was immersed into the world of pioneers who lived off the land. I found it beautiful. Sure, it was romanticized a bit. I would have been interested if she'd gone into more realistic detail about the annoying bug bites on her skin, where her family pooped, and how bad her dad must have smelled after building a house from scratch. That's reality, babe.
I would have loved to live like that. With deodorant though. There would be no need to count calories or go to the gym when life itself is full of harsh, demanding physical labor. It took sweat and hard work to even get food on the table. Heck, you had to BUILD your own table. And everything else. Moving from Wisconsin to Kansas in a canvas-covered wagon, they left behind their furniture because it would be easy enough to build more once they settled somewhere else. Who needs Ethan Allen, right?
They didn't need a four-bedroom house to accomodate all the people in their family. Judging by the description of what their first house in Kansas looked like after "Pa" had finally completed the final touches, it was marvelous. Considering he built it from trees cut with an axe powered by his own bare hands, it was a marvel. By today's standards it probably wouldn't be fit for living, but back then before people became such snobs, it was all the family needed, and even a bit more.
I realize that today we enjoy very high living standards, health and sanitation, etc... and that's a good thing because it frees us up to take care of deeper things. Some people take advantage of that extra time wisely, but others idle away their time playing games, wasting time, seeking out ever-more stimulating forms of entertainment, getting fat. Shame on me for falling largely into that latter category.
So speaking for myself, I would have loved to live back in a time when there was no choice but to live off the land. I'd love to say that I'd thrive out there. All my life I've loved the great outdoors, but increasingly over the years I've become a bug-a-phobic, allergic pansy and a homebody. Such a shame.
Gosh, I wonder what people did about hay fever back then. Must've really sucked.
I envy them though. And to think that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her memoirs at a time when she saw the world changing around her...to leave behind a memory of what life is really like when you live on what God alone provides. She was among the last of people who could tell us what that's like. She was born in 1867 and died in the 1960's. Can you imagine watching the world change so drastically before your very eyes? I'm glad she left behind her memories.
Who knows, I may have to live off the land some day. Could I cope? I've been so spoiled growing up in this modern society.
I ought to take some classes in woodworking without electricity. Farming without modern equipment. Hunting for meat with a bow-and-arrow. Drawing water from a well. Heck for that matter, how to dig a well.
*Sigh* I am just so spoiled living with all our modern conveniences. It bugs my conscience.
