Thinking of Ma

Remember Caroline Ingalls? From the Little House on the Praire books? (or from the tv show if you are so inclined toward have your brains turn to sap and melt out through your ears)

I was thinking about her this morning.

Laura never mentioned any messes around the house. I wonder if Caroline ever left a load of dirty dishes in the sink. ALL DAY. Ok, probably not, they only had like one dish per person, but still. I wonder if Ma ever started to do the dishes and noticed that little Carrie was in that hunched over position and had "that look". The one that says, "I am about to do a great and mighty work." Did Ma forget about the dishes, yell, "NOOOOOOO CARRIE! In the POT! I said in the POT. NOT in your millions of pairs of underpants!!!!!!!" All the while carrying poor Carrie under her arms, through the backdoor and into the outhouse. Well, doesn't that happen to every mom? What I really wonder is, after cleaning Carrie up, and trying desperately to figure out what clothes to put on her (because her only other dress was already soiled and washday wasn't until Friday...) did she forget to get back to those dishes?

Did Ma ever look at a dirty table with bread crumbs (or ziti noodles) scattered underneath, did she see the HUGE pile of dishes, and all the dirty clothes hung on hooks (except for Laura's, because you KNOW that child never hung up her dirty clothes), did she survey the room and think about all the meat that needed to be cooked, veggies that needed to be perserved, dirt that needed to be swept, chickens that needed to be fed, and then curse (in her head of course, because Caroline Ingalls would NEVER have a foul mouth)? My question is: Did she have a foul mind? Did she ever just wish she could go back to bed? Or hire a maid?

I wonder. I wonder if Caroline Ingalls had anything at all in common with today's homemaker. I spend a lot of time trying to be like her. Those books give me the feeling of peace and warmth, exactly what I want my children, husband, and visitor's to feel when they are in my home. Why oh, why didn't Laura ever tell us if Caroline had any housekeeping flaws? I really need her to be more human, I need a more realistic goal to strive for...because I have this feeling that I will never be Caroline Ingalls.