Cousin Emanuel

I have ninety-seven cousins. To a lot of Amish that isn't an impressive number. LV has that many on his father's side of the family alone. Among that number there is a small handful that have left the Amish.

My twenty year old cousin Emanuel left some time ago. He was aware of the heart break he would cause when he left but needed to make a decision for himself and his life. He had hopes and dreams and was pursuing them. There was so much he wanted to do and experience.

Yesterday we received a phone call telling us the news we weren't ready to hear. Emanuel has died and his funeral is today. He had been on Lake Cayuga with his older brother enjoying an evening of swimming and boating. No one really knows how or why, but somehow he drowned even with his brother doing his best to rescue him.

They had an Amish funeral for him and those of us who had left the Amish spent a lot of time calling and talking to each other since we couldn't be at the funeral having had such short notice.

There is so much going through my mind right now but I'm finding it difficult to express it in writing.