A Month in the Life

Deitsch un Englisch
Today we embark on a road trip. Armed with Atlas and TomTom, we are headed to upstate New York for a Mennonite family reunion – on my mother’s side. There were thirteen children in my mom’s family and most of those have large families as well. There were nine of us kids back home, and so the multiplication continues.

Even though some of my siblings are not going to this event, I expect a huge turnout. My aunt is ill and I think many will make the effort to go. The largest number will be coming from Pennsylvania, but also, from Missouri, Kentucky, and Indiana. The majority, are Old Order Mennonites, and nearly all are considered “Plain People”. There are only a few who look like English Townspeople, or “Englische Shtetlah”, and fewer still who don’t speak the “Deitsch”.

I waited too long to reserve a room and the nearby hotels are full, as I am sure are the local homes of the Plain People. We will be staying further away from the reunion site to find available lodging.

Grandma was at the last reunion we went to, but she is gone now. They had two funerals for grandma, one in Indiana and one in Pennsylvania, given the large numbers of direct descendants and their geographic locations.


Reminiscence
We left Pennsylvania when I only two, and my family was one of the few pioneers for the Plain Mennonite community in Missouri. Today, I guess there are a few hundred families here, represented by several different churches.

As a child, I was only able to return to Pennsylvania once. That was now thirty years ago, but I distinctly remember, four things about that trip.

I remember:

the smell of the coal-burning cook stove, and watching Grandpa stoke it,

the sight and sound of a huge steam engine my uncle was using for power,

the aroma and taste of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups “seconds” we got from the Hershey factory nearby, (Subconsciously I think about it every time I bite into one - even today)

going on to Niagara Falls, and feeling the mist on my face as dad was telling me stories about the falls.

So..., we have the house sitters in place, and are off to explore upstate New York, Niagara Falls, Canada, then back to Illinois, to share our Wife Swap story at another church.

The blogs and pics will be as internet access and equipment function allows, but please check back often, will you?