Magical Memoir Moments
The Bedroom Where It All Began: A Truly Magical Memoir Moment
Sometimes a Magical Memoir Moment occurs in less than a second. The way my parents told the story, their first meeting was like that. If either of them had made different choices that fateful day, forty-six people would have very different stories. Or no story at all.
Things My Father Said: A Message from the Grave
They say that eyes are the windows to the soul. My father’s eyes look different to me in the few pictures I have from his last years. The one below gave me shivers when it appeared last week on Facebook. The photo comes from the 1979 Lititz, Pennsylvania, high school yearbook, The Warrian. Daddy’s last…
The Ultimate Touchstone of Friendship: Witness
Mary, Tina, and Gloria were the main characters in the mini memoir of my life called The College Years. Here we are about to graduate. Tina appears to have the stage. There were a few things we still didn’t know. 🙂 Like all graduates, we had no idea of where we would ultimately live, travel,…
Eves-dropping: A Good Way to End 2014
I created a new word today: “eves-dropping.” Meaning? To prepare a blog post on the eve of a holiday and then drop it on your readers. Since Christmas and New Years this year fall on Thursdays, and this blog goes live regularly on Wednesdays, you get eves-drops. As a way of celebrating the year-end of…
Blog Post #500 and a Six-Year Anniversary Milestone
It all started with a gift and a milestone birthday. I was sixty. My tech-savvy son Anthony was approaching age thirty-two. I cashed in his “gift certificate” in the next month and started blogging — without having a clue. No pictures. Just a few random words. But I at least had a subject. The blog…
The Tie that Binds: How Mennonite College Friendships Grew from Twig to Vine
I’ve just said good-bye to my three closest college friends: Mary, Tina, and Gloria. We gathered in Gloria’s home, State College, Pennsylvania, just to renew our friendship for three days. This photo was taken next to a pergola covered with trumpet vine. The story of how the vine grew over time, told by Gloria the…
A Fancy Review from a Former Plain Girl: And a Book Giveaway
The heading for Marian Beaman’s blog. She wore a larger covering than I did. Every writer hopes for a finely-tuned reader who will inspire her to place the best words on the page and who will challenge her to keep listening for even fairer music. As we write, we call upon our Muses as the…
The Day Before Launch: Going Home to Lititz During Harvest.
Who says you can’t go home again? Reporter Sarah Chain certainly disagrees. The official launch will be held tomorrow night at Lititz Mennonite Church, 165 Front Street, Lititz, Pennsylvania. 7 p.m. If you live close by, please join us! We’ll have a party, and we’ll relive a little Lancaster Conference Mennonite Church history in the…
The Longhouse Project at the Hans Herr House: A Good Beginning
Like many Mennonites whose roots go back to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I am a descendent of Hans Herr. The 1719 Hans Herr House, built in that year by Christian and Anna Herr, is the oldest surviving house in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the oldest original Mennonite meeting house still standing in the Western Hemisphere. I…
It Takes a Village to Write a Memoir: Returning to Lititz, Pennsylvania, Cool Small Town
I grew up on a farm, but I come from a village. This village, commemorated on a plate that rests in my dining room: Today I write in praise of Lititz, Pennsylvania. I attended Warwick High School, worked at Stauffer’s Market, and attended Lititz Mennonite Church. Most of the drama of my teenage years…