Write About Now

I’m doing some freelance work on a textbook (it’s a long story) and in the process I’ve spent the last week rereading some of my very favorite books of all time, the Little House on the Prairie series. These books are so wonderful that I will read all nine of them, chapter by chapter, aloud to my children someday whether they like it or not, and if I never have children I will force other people’s children to listen to them. They’re that good.

Anyway, as I flipped back and read the familiar passages again, I was struck by some of the values running through them. The work ethic of this pioneer family, of course, although the cynic in me says if Ma had just once said to Pa, “No, we are not moving west again just because someone lives within five miles of us and you feel crowded,” there would have been much less work to do. What really hit me this time through was the contentment, even delight, that Laura and her family took in the smallest things: The first taste of lemonade at age fourteen. Fresh vegetables after a winter of salt pork and brown bread. A tin cup. A letter or a newspaper. Two pieces of candy at Christmas. An earthen floor that swept clean. One window in a tiny house occupied by six people.

I wonder what Mrs. Wilder thought as she grew older and observed our country replacing her childhood with electricity, automobiles, and telegrams. I wonder what she’d think now of the laser surgery, subways, and email.

It’s not impossible to cultivate an appreciation for simple pleasures in these times, but it is more difficult. When you have tasted an orange one time, it is easy to find excitement in receiving one for Christmas. Tonight after I write this I will check out a few other blogs and listen to my iPod—is my generation too entertained to be content?

In the last couple of years I have made a conscious effort to divest myself of unnecessary possessions and obligations. This is made easier when every square foot of real estate in one’s neighborhood costs a bazillion dollars, but that’s not the main reason I hesitate to buy things, give them to Goodwill, or just spend an evening reading rather than text messaging on my cell phone. Like Laura, I want to be delighted by simple, if not inexpensive, pleasures. I want to be in the moment. I want to be grateful.