So, while I was in junior high Roger Lea MacBride started publishing the sequel series focusing on Laura's daughter, Rose. I was pretty good about reading that for a year or two - until the third or fourth volume came out - and then forgot about the series until I rediscovered it sometime last year. I've been working on getting the rest of it through Bookmooch and Paperbackswap.
So I was reading the sixth book in the series, when Rose is about fifteen years old, and just finished the chapter where Pa Ingalls is dying. It made me cry a bit, and at first I was embarrassed about it because come on I'm how old now? Crying over a character in a book? (Although I do that a lot. I'm a wimp, alright?) But then my brain countered with Well, he's not just a character in a book because PA INGALLS WAS A REAL AMERICAN HERO ON THE FRONTIER, YA'LL which my devil advocate-self cheerfully countered with the fact that Laura Ingalls Wilder died in 1957 so I'm a little late in my grief.
After some more thought I decided that it was OK to be sad because Pa was one of those childhood hero types, that always seemed so strong and reliable. The fact that he was a real person who did all those brave things made him all the more amazing. So since he was someone I admired then it's OK to feel sad when reading about his last illness and death, especially since a lot of the sorrow comes from Laura's mourning for the loss of her father. It's always sad when a daughter loses her father, right?
So that's my silly story of the night. To balance it out maybe I'll write about trade deficients next time.
