We are linked by blood, and blood is memory without language. ~Joyce Carol Oates Recently when I was going through family records, I found a copy of the pages that my mother and her siblings wrote about their memories of childhood. I remember vividly hearing my mother tell a story that happened when she was a small child, playing in […]
Intergenerational Memories Read More »
The clock just struck midnight. A year ago today, I was at my older sister Elizabeth’s bedside. She had just died a peaceful death at twenty minutes before midnight. She had lost her four-year battle with cancer. We all thought she still had several weeks to go… after all she had been sitting up and taking nourishment the night before.
Remembering a Sister Read More »
Susan J. Reinhardt wrote: “I find it surprising at the disparity between the Amish in various geographic areas. I’d always assumed the Lancaster Amish were representative of all the Amish communities.” I am still learning about just how diverse the various Amish communities are — and oftentimes in surprising ways. Having grown up Amish, I was aware that the style
Diversity among Amish Read More »
Yanina asked: “What do you think about the Beachy Amish?” and “I was recently in the Beachy Amish website and saw a picture of an African American girl on it. How do the Old Order feel about people of different races and ethnicities?” Yanina, I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to answer your questions. About Beachy Amish: I don’t have
Amish and Beachy Amish Mennonites Read More »
By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired. ~ Franz Kafka More than ten years ago, I began writing down my childhood memories. That was before I learned how to craft my writing. My first versions read much like a diary. Then I started taking writing
Have you ever thought you were doing something for one reason, only to find that a far more significant reason emerged than you could have anticipated? That happened to me last week when David and I took our trip to the Midwest. I thought I was making the trip to see several Amish communities I hadn’t seen before, to visit
A Different Perspective Read More »
