Do you think Almanzo and Laura ever thought that long after they were gone there would still be people talking about them?
Do you believe that Mama Bess could even fathom that nearly sixty years after her passing people of all ages would be celebrating her legacy to children's literature?
If it were not for Laura Ingalls Wilder's classic books would Bess and Manly simply be known as the parents of Rose Wilder Lane?
In many ways, young Laura and young Almanzo are no different than kids are today. They grew up under the guidance of their parents and moved on to create lives of their own. Similarly, as young adults and then parents, they struggled to find their place in this great big world, to raise a daughter, and worked hard to survive.
Just like their TV counterparts would portray decades later, they experienced joys and sorrows and health and sickness. Life on the prairie, just like modern day life, is not always a cup of tea.
What Wilder's books and the film adaptations based upon them have always meant to me is that family and faith is the focus of all we do. In the end, it is our family and our faith that will carry us through the good times and the bad. That is what I see as the essence of what Wilder attempted to portray while giving readers a glimpse into what life on the prairie was like.
May Laura and Almanzo continue to live on for new generations of fans across the world. Happy Anniversary! Thanks for sharing your life with us.
