24 Feb Five Minute Friday: Grit
It’s Friday again. Woo hoo! I know I completely skipped last week’s Five Minute Friday, but once again today I join The Gypsy Mama to write for five minutes on her weekly prompt. No editing or rewriting allowed. Click on the link to her site if you want to try it, too. The prompt this week is “Grit”.
GO
I’ve always thought I had grit. Well, maybe not always. But I’ve always known I’m not a “prissy girl”. Although I like to look pretty, I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. I love the outdoors. It takes grit to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim in 100 degree temperatures, right?
But that stuff is just external. True grit has to do with backbone of a metaphorical nature. Maybe it’s all tied together but when I read Little House on the Prairie with Camilla, I think Caroline Ingalls had grit. She worked really hard, but that’s not even half of it. It takes real backbone to take your family out into unknown territory when you are actually quite a refined woman. To give up the life you’ve always known, with the knowledge that you will probably never see your family and friends again. Ever. And to set up a new house from scratch. More than once. Yeah, I don’t know much about true grit. But deep down I’m hoping she and I would be kindred spirits.
STOP
Okay, I totally got interrupted and had to come back to this. That’s what happens when I don’t do it first thing in the morning. C’est la vie. Happy Friday everybody!
Val
Posted at 19:17h, 24 FebruaryShe isn't written in a 'gritty way' is she? You get the warmth of a Mama and the sweetness of a wife from the books and the TV show, but you're right–it must have taken a healthy dose of grit to keep going.
You do what you have to in the situations you're in though–Just like you had what it took to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim because you were there and you had to. I'm thinking you'd be kindred spirits. 🙂
Alison
Posted at 23:20h, 24 FebruaryYes, she is a warm mama and sweet wife, and so calm in every situation . . . I want to be like her! And bless you for saying we would be kindred spirits. 🙂
Tony and Sarah
Posted at 23:43h, 24 FebruaryI cannot wait to read these books again with my daughter in a few years. I think our society could use more heroine's like Mrs. Ingalls. Thanks for sharing – over from Gypsymama…
Alison
Posted at 00:10h, 25 FebruaryThanks for reading! No need to wait a few years, though . . . from your photo I think you'll both enjoy them now.
Amy
Posted at 12:32h, 25 FebruaryI love these books, too! I hadn't thought about Caroline that way, but yes, it really would take a lot of grit to live the life she lived. She comes across as such a gentle person in the books that it's so easy to forget that.
Alison
Posted at 10:17h, 26 FebruaryThanks for the comment, Amy! Especially when they're building the house on the prairie, she just bucked up and did what needed to be done. Pa dropped a log on her foot and as soon as she was able, she hobbled around on her swollen foot getting dinner and everything for the family!