Walnut Grove, Minn.-Recent news from the quiet Minnesota town indicates that Charles Ingalls is pleased that he witnessed his son-in-law, Adam Kendall, making a fast friend and then never speaking of that friend again.
“It’s what makes the friend fast, you know,” Charles comments. “Sometimes someone goes from stranger to best friend faster than you can snap your fingers, and sometimes you move on from that friend just as fast.”
Reviewing his family’s entire history, Charles says there are “countless examples” of his family being the most significant person in someone’s life for “just a week or so” and then just completely never acknowledging that person’s existence ever again.
“Sometimes you accomplish something and it’s just like ‘Okay, my work is finished,’ you know?” Charles continues. “Like when I made that shoe for Olga so she could play. Shoe worked, we move on. When my family provided around the clock support to Beth Novack until she had her baby and named him after her dead husband–job well done, next! I fixed that family that I bought those horses from—okay, what’s next? Take Dylan to California? You see where I’m going with this.”
Charles points out that if you maintain the friendship too long, it limits the amount of lives you can impact.
“This is why I was so excited when I went to Minneapolis with Mary and we stayed at his friend’s house,” Charles continues. “He had know this Alan for just a few short days, and here are, staying in what is practically a mansion. I’m sitting in a nice chair, reading a newspaper, wondering if this friendship is a regular long one or if Adam is just going to never talk about Alan again.”
Observing that the passage of time has proven that it is the latter, Charles reports he is now ready to fully welcome Adam into the family fold.
“I always thought he was a good match for Mary, but now I know this is real love,” Charles comments. “He really does fit in with our family culture, and as parent I can’t imagine wanting any more for one of my daughters”
At press time, Adam Kendall was struggling to find work as a lawyer and apparently didn’t even think of asking his friend Alan–whose father is a judge–if he had any connections.
