Autumn Escape

My brother and his family came for a visit to our home and then we all drove to Amish country to spend time together there.  It's a favorite family spot.  We have taken the girls since they were little when we started attending the shows at the Millennium Theatre.  We've ridden the train to Paradise, visited museums, and shopped at little country stores in the village of Intercourse.  There really isn't a lot to do there, so I think that is exactly why we love it.  It's a retreat from the bustle of our hectic lives in the suburbs.  And autumn is the best time to go.

We all unwind as we make the long drive through idyllic farm country. The familiar peaceful rolling hills surround us.  Today the farmlands are ablaze with orange and green under a bright blue sky.  Dry corn fields glisten in the golden sunshine and trees are beginning to display their fall colors. Silos define the skyline and roadside stands beckon with pumpkins and mums.  Weeping willows line small streams, their tendrils dripping into the cold water.  As we get closer, we notice it must be laundry day.  Clotheslines adorned with dark trousers and plain dresses whip in the cool breeze.  Arielle notices the order--light to dark, large to small.  Hard-working hands pinned each item on this brisk morning.

Even so, noisy traffic and city life intrudes.   Amish buggies dangerously share the roads with speeding cars.  But we, like they, carve out our own little enclave of tranquility. We focus on the beauty and the simplicity and return year after year because here we can shut out the chaos of modern life and retreat into our own little world.

We meet my brother, my sister-in-law, and my niece and stroll through the shops and laugh in that comfortable way you can when you are with people you love.  We linger in the tourist shops and I snap this picture of two silly guys.  We visit quilt shops, our eyes assaulted with beautiful fabrics as we dream up new projects.  We eat hot, sweet pretzels and sit on the porch watching the buggies at the drive-through bank across the street.  All of us live in two worlds, don't we?  Balancing the hard realities of life with the joys we find in family and community. 

On this trip I will remember a late dinner, relaxing in an almost empty restaurant, listening to the stories about the Amish family who hosted my brother and his family.  They had a firsthand experience to learn about the people who have separated themselves from our crazy world the best they can. My niece washed dishes in an Amish kitchen as the family prepared for their work day.  My brother drove the Amish farmer to the library and discussed his genealogy research.  I will also think about the next morning when we all explored a many-leveled antique store while the rain drove hard. Our little vacation ended at one of our favorite shops in Bird-in-Hand so we could stock up on apples from the huge bins outside.  With a sad, wet good-bye, we parted ways.  My brother was  heading to Gettysburg and we back to school and work and routine.  But our hearts are full of new memories to add to the stories of so many years past.