Posts by Saloma Furlong
To Leave is to Forgo…
Today I received an email from my blogger friend, Tom, who writes the blog The Backroads Traveller. He kindly shared with me a link to an article on Yahoo News about women who leave “extreme faiths.” As I read through the article with interest, I was amazed how much the issues were parallel to the…
Read MoreTo Stay or Leave?
I was doing some perusing of websites tonight that are administrated or written by former Amish people. Once I started reading “Letters to and from Former Amish” by the Mission to Amish People website, I could not stop reading. I was pulled into the intensity of the letters. First there is a letter from someone who…
Read MoreNo Sorrow without Joy
When I was growing up, we learned a poem in school entitled, "What God hath not Promised." One of the lines is "God hath not promised joy without sorrow." This is so true. Life is often about struggles. But as I have discovered this week, the reverse is also true. We do not have to…
Read MoreA Letter from Anna
This past week I have finally heard from Anna. She writes that she is sewing herself new clothes, shelling popcorn, getting ready for church to be held at her sister’s place, and putting a quilt in frame for an “English” lady. Then I read this: Saloma and David, I am so sorry I didn’t know…
Read MoreSnow and About Anna
Yesterday morning I awoke to what sounded like a convoy of trucks going across the bridge over the Connecticut River. It was the wind roaring all around the house. The snow had been coming down all night apparently, and from the sound of that wind, we were having the blizzard that had been predicted. At…
Read MoreAnna’s Return
Today was a rainy, drippy, sad day that fit my mood exactly. I am still reeling from this past weekend. I did something that I will probably wonder for the rest of my life whether it was the right thing or not. For some time now, Anna has been planning to return to her community.…
Read MoreThe Juncture of Three Cultures
Ever since I’ve gotten to know Anna Miller, the young woman who lives with us, I’ve said that the difference between her Swartzentruber community and the Amish community where I came from is about as great as the difference between my community and the outside world. In fact, Anna’s group called anyone who is not…
Read MoreFracking in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania
A friend recently sent me a link to an article in On Earth Magazine called “Fracking the Amish” that reports the conflict in the Amish settlement in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, near the Ohio border. I have been to this community on two occasions. My maternal grandmother grew up there. I wrote a story called “Sarah’s…
Read MoreThe Amish, Misunderstood Again
Many of the misconceptions of the Amish come about because someone misunderstands their ways and then imposes their values on the Amish. This is how the misconception of “rumspringa” became so widespread… the people making a documentary The Devil’s Playground misconstrued the idea of what “rumpspringa” is all about. Now the misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the…
Read MoreMemory Photos
I have no actual photos of me when I was a baby or a very young child. But I do have “Amish” photos or “memory” photos that were passed down to me from my mother. I treasure these, for they give me a snapshot in time that becomes vivid when I use my imagination. The…
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