LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE  

It wasn’t a little house, but I can’t tell you how many times I identified with the Ingalls who lived in the “real” Little House on the Prairie! There are many stories about the Heldmans...the city folk...who moved to the country! You can find here and there on this website.

One of the interesting parts of our country property was the huge barn with the enormous sliding door. Even on a nice sunny day, the door was a bear to close. Often it came off of its track and it took at least a couple of people to get it back on.

Add to that, however, a blustery winter night when the wind was blowing across our very flat acreage and the land surrounding it! Even though we hardly ever saw intense snow storms like the ones in Chicago, we endured winds and blowing snow like we could not have imagined. Ken would struggle to get our tiny tractor going, the one with a small plow on the front, and would face the ugly winter storm with the boys standing on the back to provide extra traction. After a couple of hours, it looked like it had not been done at all.

During one of these storms, when Ken was working in Chicago, I looked across the yard and saw that the huge barn door was flapping furiously in the wind, having come out of the track. Recruiting Matt and Ginger, the only ones available to help me, I dashed around pulling on my winter outerwear. They willingly responded to the call and the three of us entered the vicious storm knowing full well what we were up against.

For what seemed like hours, we braved the horizontal snow as it hit our faces and the nasty wind as we fought with the awful door. We worked together, shouting ideas to each other to make it happen more quickly, and at last, we all three guided the pulleys at the top of the door into their slot, shoved the door into its proper spot, locked it and left through the service door.

I’ve thought about that night lots of times through the years. What unquestioningly could never been done by one person, was accomplished with three willing people working together. My kids could have given me grief over such a request but they did not. Instead, they ran enthusiastically to help me in a time of trouble. How grateful I was for their assistance and tenacity!!

Trouble is easier to handle when you’ve got a buddy or two. Do you know someone who is in trouble? If they ask for help, help. If they don’t, do it anyway. Enormous impossibilities become possible when people band together.

January 2006