Hands down, Laura Ingalls Wilder. While one could argue, she was indeed not fictional, as she was a real person, most of the stories we all know Laura for best, were fictionalized accounts of her life.

While I read all the books (in the school library, repeatedly) and all seven volumes sit on my personal library bookshelf. Most of us know Laura best from the Little House TV series with Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert as Laura. The TV series was a wildly dramatized account of Laura’s life. But it is how I remember her best.

I wanted to be Laura. I wanted to be cheeky and mischievous. Clever and smart. Funny and sassy. Sweet and caring. Kind and big hearted. Always looking out for the underdog, fighting for the right thing. I wanted to be close to my Dad, close with my sisters, have a kind relationship with my Mom. Have a plethora of friends.

Laura was a good person, and she made me want to be a better person. I wanted to make good choices, do well in school, listen to my parents, and try always do the right thing.

The thing was, I always felt I was the exact opposite of Laura. The only thing I had in common (with her TV character at least) was I had dark hair, but mine was always kept boy short.

I wasn’t smart enough, clever enough, kind enough. I didn’t seem to do things right, Mom & Dad always seemed to be mad at me, my sister and I seemed to quarrel a lot. I didn’t have many friends, and the boys didn’t seem to take notice of me.

However, this sounds just like how Laura felt. She never thought she measured up either! I never thought I measured up. But we, as children, have an impossible metre stick. That’s the lesson Pa & Ma were always trying to show Laura – she was more than good enough. That’s the lesson we are are to show our children, but often (we as) children just don’t hear.

I didn’t see this as a child, but I see it now, upon reflection. That was the entire point. We are all good little girls. We are smart enough, funny enough, kind enough, clever enough. With just enough mischief to make us children. Never too naughty, of course, but enough to allow us to grow and flourish and test the boundaries.

I faced hard things and learned difficult truths but grew up and while I didn’t (and don’t) always know the right path forward, I can keep trying and keep putting one foot in front of the other. The girl I once admired, who shaped who I wanted to be, who was such a formational part of my childhood, really did make a significant and lasting impact on my life.