~Singing~

Singing is something that I have loved for as long as I can remember. From cute little children songs when I was a child to hymns and country songs and my favorite church songs as a teen. My days were filled with singing.

I looked forward to every other Sunday evening when the youth would gather at someone's house to spend two hours singing German hymns. It was great being able to sit and sing to your hearts content. As much as I loved singing the best part of the evening was the ride to and from the singing with LV.

For once I was glad that I didn't have an older brother otherwise I would not have been allowed to ride with LV. We both knew once John was old enough to join the youth our Sunday night drives would be over and determined to enjoy every minute of them until then.

The area we lived in had a lot of roads that provided short cuts to get from one Amish family to the next but we weren't about to use them. Instead we would choose the route that would take the longest and let the horse, Ridge walk slowly the whole time. We would often sing as we slowly made our way home.

One evening the singing was three miles away and we were looking forward to our ride home. We had already planned to take Arnold road which would add an additional mile and a half to our ride. However soon after the singing started LV's brother and family arrived and we knew they would see us turn off.

We left right after the singing was over and discussed what we were supposed to do since not only didn't we want to turn down that road if they saw us we wouldn't be able to let Ridge walk all the way home. We decided to let Ridge run like he used to and turn off at Camp Albryoca turn off our buggy lights and wait for his brother to pass and then take Arnold Road.

Urging Ridge to run a little faster we were happy to have no buggies in sight as we ducked into the camp and turned off the lights. I hardly dared to breathe as we waited quietly for his brother to pass. A little later they passed and we watched them disappear over the distant hill and turned on the lights and resumed our ride home.

Our little stay at Camp Albryoca would remain a secret......... until now.

Storytime With Daddy

One of our favorite parts of inbetween Sundays used to be right after breakfast when Daddy would push his chair back from the table and start telling us stories from his childhood. We each had our favorites that we would ask to hear.

Breakfast dishes could wait while we were transported back in time where we could almost see and hear everything as we listened to Daddy's descriptive reliving of his childhood moments.

We lived on a small dairy farm which provided plenty of work for all of us. We milked the cows by hand every morning and night, and during the day we let them out into pasture to graze.


Dad didn't have any fences, saying that with all the boys he has there is no need to build a fence, that they can herd the cows. My brothers and I practically lived outdoors during the summer and herding cows has got to be one of the most monotonous things a boy can do. The cows knew where they could be and most days we each sat at the point assigned to us and watched the clouds float by, we each had a knife and we often whittled while we waited for a cow to stray so we would have an excuse to get up and head her back where she belonged thus breaking the monotony a little bit.


On one such day I was sitting under a big old oak tree. I was tired of watching the clouds drift by. The cows were all laying contently chewing their cuds I sprawled out under the tree and fell asleep. I have no idea how long I was sleeping when I was awakened in the most rude manner. A big Brown Swiss cow had stepped right on my stomach. I screamed, but the cow wouldn't budge. I screamed some more and my brothers came running to see what was wrong. They finally got the cow to step off of me and by now I was sure I was going to die.


I had a few pieces of candy in my pocket that I had been saving for a special occasion, so while one of my brothers ran to get Dad I ate it quickly before I die. It hurt so bad that I passed out and when I woke up I was laying in a hospital bed with nurses beside me. Mom was sitting on a chair beside my bed. She stayed with me until the doctors let me go home.


I didn't work for the rest of the summer and I actually wished I could go out in the pasture where there was nothing but clouds and sunshine, waving grass and cows, instead of being in the house with my six sisters fussing over me.

Meeting Future Family ~ Part Two

We spent most of the forenoon playing games. I enjoyed getting to know LV's cousins. Around eleven o'clock the girls and I went to help prepare lunch.

There wasn't much for me to do since the kitchen was filled with so many women. Everyone was talking and laughing and I enjoyed listening to them. Once lunch was ready everyone sat at the table. As soon as silent prayer was over it seemed as if everyone started talking at once. I soon came to the conclusion that i would enjoy spending time with such a fun loving bunch of people.

Right after lunch LV's sister-in-law Emma offered that I could ride with her that evening and she would drop me off at our house on her way home. I accepted her offer and went to ask LV if he would call my brother John and tell him that he wouldn't need to come pick me up that evening. LV suggested that I call and walked me to their phone shanty located behind their corn crib.

After I called John I opened the shanty door and saw LV had waited for me. Sitting next to him was his beloved dog Micky. A beautiful Border Collie. I petted the dog and we walked leisurely back to the house with Micky walking by my side. LV seemed pleased that his dog seemed to like me so much since he never cared for strangers. I was happy to hear that Micky was giving me special treatment.

When we got back to the house it wasn't long before the guests decided it was time to head for home. LV's Grandma was going to stay for several months so she had to say her good-byes to the guests too. After they had left the house seemed much more quiet even though LV's mother and Grandma talked in streak.

LV and I found a quiet corner and enjoyed visiting the rest of the afternoon until Emma was ready to leave for home.

As I got ready for bed that evening I felt relieved at how much I had enjoyed the day after the initial awkward moments had passed. And since Micky seemed to really like me I felt that everything was alright with the world after all.

Meeting Future Family ~ Part One

LV and I had been courting for a little more than a year when he told me that his Grandma and some of his aunts and cousins were coming to visit and he really wanted me to meet them. Especially his cousin Emma. He was sure we would be great friends if we got to know each other.

I asked Mom and Daddy permission and was happy when they agreed that I could have a day to go spend at LV's home and get to know more of his extended family.

When the day arrived I took special pains in getting ready and found my stomach all turned into knots at the thought of meeting so many strangers and having them form opinions about me. I was hoping that somehow I would be able to make a favorable first impression.

John hitched Fern to our single buggy and gave me a ride to LV's home. As I got off the buggy LV's Mom came out of the house and John drove down the lane. As I walked over the lawn to the house she came to meet me and said "Emma couldn't come after all and it had been because of her that they had invited me." My stomach twisted and I felt like running down the driveway after John and the buggy. "You can still come on in since John has left already." she continued.

I followed her into the house and as I entered the screen door closed a little too fast and caught the back of my shoe neatly removing it from my foot and leaving it on the porch. I was mortified as I quickly retrieved it and tried to slip it on but it seemed my foot had grown several sizes and it wasn't going to go back into that shoe without a fight. By the time I actually got inside the house everyone was looking at me. I wished I could sink through the floor. Thankfully LV came and rescued me and invited me to come upstairs where he and his cousins were playing a game. I was happy to get away from all the curious, amused stares and followed him upstairs in hopes that I would be able to salvage at least a little bit of my dignity.

The Graveyard

Nestled in the middle of our woods there was an old graveyard. No one had been buried there in the past fifty years but it was still well taken care of. New flowers were placed at each grave every year. Beautiful ferns grew along the perimeter of the graveyard and a lush moss covered much of the ground along the one side. During spring and early summer violets grew profusely.

As children it was one of our favorite places to play on Sunday afternoons when there was nothing else planned to do as a family. We knew each of the tombstone inscriptions by heart. Wandering through the graveyard I often wondered what the people buried there had experienced in their life. Often when we had visitors with children we would go play in the graveyard for a while. Most of the time that was fine but one time we took a family of children that climbed all the tombstones and jumped as far as they could. There was one especially large headstone with a cross on top. John, David and I watched in dismay as they climbed on top of it and jumped off. After quite a few jumps as the one boy was climbing up again the cross broke off. We knew we had to get them away before they do more damage and convinced them to come help us float homemade boats on the creek.

After they left we had to tell Mom and Daddy that a tombstone had been broken. They weren't very happy with us and said that from now on we weren't allowed to take visiting children to play in the graveyard.

As I grew older I loved going there to spend time alone to simply think and dream. Other times I would take good book along to read. Sunday afternoons my brothers and I would often spend time there talking and reading and every once in a while we would once again play a game that we used to when we were little children.

It is still one of my favorite spots from my childhood and I look forward to visiting it soon for the first time in years.