A Manly Man

Over the past week and a half I've been recuperating from the Legislative session by reading about twenty books. This has been fun, but I think it's about time I got some sleep.

Anyway, some of the books I read were the Little House series. I read these every couple of years. I first read them when I was in second grade. I have an old, tattered set that I read all through my childhood and adolescence, and then I got a new set to read as an adult that doesn't get quite as much use. Like millions of other little girls, from the first time I met Laura Ingalls, I just felt a bond with her.

When I graduated from junior high, my grandma told me she would take me anywhere in the U.S. I wanted to go (except Hawaii or Alaska). I chose Mansfield Missouri--the home of Laura and her husband Almanzo and their daughter Rose. When we got there, the historical society had just finished some restoration on the house, and I was lucky enough to procure one of the old, original shingles off the house--handmade by Almanzo. It's one of my prized possessions.

I think it was about that time that my love for Almanzo started to grow. Since that time I've reached for Farmer Boy first, and waded through the first four Little House books somewhat impatiently until I can get to The Long Winter and see him again. You might even say that I get a bit of a crush on Almanzo every time I read the books again. Here's why:


He's brave. Of course there was the time he saved the whole town from starving by going for the wheat.

• He's patient and loyal. Laura gave him no reason to keep coming around, and there were other single girls in town. But he knew what he wanted, and kept trying.


• He works hard. Even after he was paralyzed, he kept working his land and never gave up.


• He's independent. Like when he entered the horse and buggy race with his team pulling a cart that was too heavy, even though he had no chance of winning, because he didn't want to borrow someone else's cart. And then he won. Because he's awesome.


• He's generous. There was that one time when the family was traveling, and they ran into another family that was stuck and hungry, and he gave them all the meat they had. Laura was all ticked off, but he knew it was the right thing to do.


• He has a great sense of humor. Even from the time he was a kid, he would laugh at himself if the joke was on him. He didn't get all defensive and upset about it--just found the humor and laughed.

So yeah. If I were a teenager, living in the Dakota Territory in 1873, I probably would have mud wrestled that Laura Ingalls for Almanzo Wilder. She didn't even appreciate him for the first year and a half he kept following her around trying to get her to notice him.

I'm glad she finally caught on and married him, though. I think they made a great couple. And even though she didn't talk about him in a mushy or romantic way, she made some allusions to how much they loved each other and enjoyed being in one another's company. So it all turned out for the best. I don't think I could have gotten past the corniness of calling my husband "Manly," anyway.

And I ended up being better off for having been born in the twentieth century after all. Looking over that list, I'm thinking, "All that bears an uncanny resemblance to daltonboy!" Except I was smart enough to know what I had going for me, and it only took me a few weeks to reciprocate. So I guess there won't be a cat fight after all, and Laura and I will continue to be friends. Maybe someday we can even go on a double date.