My friend Emily, says she would be happy being Amish-ish. Well, I just visited an Amish family on Tuesday. I would have to say that the Amish I visited with is, Amish-ish. No, they are not Mennonites. They are Amish. It made me sad to see how our worldly ways are encroaching on their way of life. The Miller family does not have electricity. Everything is powered by a gas generator. I wasn't disappointed with the gas, but how the Amish have found a way around their Amish traditions. Mrs. Miller had two sewing machines from Wal-Mart, that were converted to a treadle machine. The living room had two floor lamps that had been converted to gas. Floor lamps like I would use!!! We were given a tour of their house and the upstairs bedrooms. They were a nice large size. The boys shared a bed, but the 2 younger girls each had their own bed. The older daughter, Barbara, is 16, and has a job. Her bedroom looked like something out of a magazine! The walls were painted chocolate brown, with lots of pictures on the wall. She had pictures on her dresser of all her girlfriends. Each bedroom had a large mirror. Which is odd. Amish are supposed to not have mirrors.
While talking with my friend AJ, I told her the Amish-ish people made me sad. Sad, that our life is overlapping into the quiet ways. AJ said, the Amish make their own choices. Yes, they do,,,,,,,,,,,but. But, we are getting in their way. Even my own children are being lured away from our life. I try to keep things as quiet and low-key as possible. Not really that easy. iPods, and iPads, my computerized sewing machine. Just to name a few.
One thing that was the same in the Miller family and the Alsteen family. John Miller is 12, and has deep dimples with twinkly mischievous eyes. Joe Alsteen, 12, naughty green eyes. These two boys hit it off immediately. It was a pretty cool thing to see. My JoJo, in his striped v-neck and baggy jeans. John, bowl cut hair, homemade pants and shirt, (with buttons!) The boys brought out a basketball and ran around throwing the ball. Then they discovered a batch of new kittens in the barn. After that they moved onto scaring the crap out of the 60 chickens in the shed. Typical boys. John asked if he could give my children a buggy ride. He hitched up the horse, called "Move Over." Then the Alsteen children jumped in. As they drove away Mrs. Miller shouted, "Drive slowly, John!" Then she shook her head and said to me, "as soon as John is out of my eyesight he drives as fast as he can!" I laughed out loud. I guess it doesn't matter if it has 4 legs or 4 tires, boys just need to do things FAST!!
I think I could be Amish-ish. As long as my computerized sewing machine could be converted to a treadle.
