Little House on the Modern Prairie

Raise your hand if you loved Little House on the Prairie. I loved the show when I was young and my youngest sister loved it even more. She was just a toddler when she feel in love with it. As soon as the iconic music would start, she would run as fast as her little toddler legs could carry her to watch the girls run down the hill at the beginning of the show. She loved to see Carrie most of all as she, like Carrie, was the youngest of three sisters. I was Mary and our middle sister was Laura.

When I was in college, I would often catch reruns of the show between classes (or when I skipped classes). It was just what I needed when I felt homesick or just needed to feel like a kid again.

Later, after I had my daughter, we read a few of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books from the Little House on the Prairie series and even at 17, she still runs out into the first snow to fill a bowl so she can pour maple syrup over it and eat it just like they did in the book. It was during those days that my lifestyle grew just a bit closer to prairie life as I explored cooking from scratch, gardening, and living life at a slower pace.

And now, here I am in midlife, and Little House on the Prairie is once again influencing me. Have you seen Melissa Gilbert's new website, Modern Prairie? It's all about embracing midlife creatively. It has all the things I love: Gardening, Baking, and Urban Homesteading. As soon as I heard about the website, I reached out, hoping I could do some freelance writing for them.

And that’s the BIG NEWS I’ve been waiting to share with you. I’m a “Trusted Prairian” and am going to lead a year-long series all about Empty Nesting! I’ll be sharing my journey as a new empty nester with the Modern Prairie community through newsletter articles, blog posts, and zoom calls.

The series will kick-off on June 16 with a fun interview with me on Zoom. I’ll be sharing some of the ways I’ve been preparing for my daughter’s departure and just generally talking about how being a woman in this stage of life cracks you open. This time, I’m focusing more on how Ma must have felt as watched her Mary, Laura, and Carrie run down that hill at breakneck speeds and how it must have felt to send Laura off to college to become a writer. The joy she must have felt and the fear.

In many ways, I feel like my daughter and I are having similar life experiences. She’s off to new a life in college and I’m starting my new life as an empty nester. We’re pioneers in new territory. I can’t wait to spend the next year discovering what that means to me and I’m looking forward to building a community of woman who can support one another through this bittersweet time. Our own Walnut Grove where, in times of trouble, the community joins together and supports one another-even Harriet. (Can we show a little understanding towards Harriet now? I mean the poor woman was likely going through menopause after all.)

I hope you will come me with on this journey. The zoom call is free, but you need to register because there’s limited space. And don’t worry if you aren’t a recent empty nester or if you still have kids at home. This is really about finding your way back to yourself-the empty nest is just the catalyst. I can’t wait to see some of you there and actually get to talk to you! Sign-up today and I’ll see you in June.