As we approach the third year mark of being in a place that I never wanted to be, I've been thinking about The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Possibly written in the 1940s but not published until around 1971, this short book gives an account of the early years of Laura and Almanzo's marriage. Laura had no intentions of being a farmer's wife when they married in 1885, however due to Almanzo's enthusiasm, she agreed to a trial period of three years. During those three years, they encountered every kind of hardship imaginable: failed crops, unpaid debt, devastating sickness. He did not give up, though, and convinced Laura to give it one more year. During that fourth year, tragedy struck the young family again in the form of a damaging tornado, the loss of a baby boy, and a destructive house fire. You would think Laura would be shouting, "Enough already!" She did not. She had her husband, her girl, and the land she loved. She was content and would live out her days as a farmer's wife.
So.... here we are just two weeks shy of the day we arrived in a strange land. Has it worked out? From this girl's point of view, a resounding NO. Though our problems have been nothing as severe as that which Laura experienced, emotionally we are teetering on the threshold of insanity (okay, maybe not THAT bad). Unlike Laura, I have shouted, "Enough already!" and yet here we remain. I have my husband, my kids, and the front porch I love. What remains to be seen is if I have what it takes to live out my days on the wrong side of the Mighty Mississippi.
No comments:
Post a Comment