I stopped by the Miller Farm yesterday and today to see how things were going. They are working dawn-dusk and beyond on their new beautiful house on the hill and hoping to move in by the end of the month.
When I visited the other day, several family members were sick.
Just colds, they said, and I believe them. But after I dropped off some food and snacks, I decided to keep my distance for the next couple of weeks. I need not catch this thing. I don’t know if they have it or not; it’s not my business.
But Maria and I are safe right now; I’m staying away from the Mansion and Bishop Maginn and avoiding crowds or anyone who seems sick.
It looked like they were doing well, working hard, making cookies and donuts, working almost all of the time full of industry and hospitality.
Several people have written me saying they miss my Amish stories. I’m sorry they miss the stories. I am glad to be moving on with my writing. If visitors smell like rotting fish after a few days, imagine what the inside of my head would be like if I wrote about the Amish regularly for months or years.
The top of my head would blow off.
Even since I stopped writing so much about the family, I feel my writing and my blog have perked and returned a bit to the original form and idea. I’m pretty happy with it right now.
I felt I was pushing up against the boundaries of friendship by taking too many photos and writing too often. So I’m giving it a rest, at least for a while, and very much enjoying exploring and expanding on the nature and range of my blog. After all, it is a daily journal of my life, not anyone else’s.
Neither Moise and I are going anywhere anytime soon. I’m sure I’ll be writing more about them. Moise has agreed to put some expanded reflective stickers on the wagons. If I accomplished nothing else last year, that alone was worth it. I believe in small miracles.
I feel for the Millers in this cold, but I know they thrive in it. Jesus suffered, so will they, and they know how to stay care of themselves and “bundle up,” as Mother Barbara says. I’m sorry people miss my writing. I need to move on to different, fresh, and other things to challenge me and keep my brain percolating.
Writers can get stale pretty quickly. I’m like a Great White Shark. I have to keep moving to keep eating.
Trust me, they are well and engaged in finishing their home that’ a beautiful thing.
“There are eight million stories in the naked city. [The Amish] has been [only] one of them.” Remember that old TV show? You have had, and will continue to have, a *lot* of stories to tell. Maybe not eight million, but it’s something to aim for! And maybe every story serves a purpose for the next story waiting to be discovered and told. Maybe each and every one of them adds some experience, some emotion, some dimension, some perception, some perspective that enhances the next.
I keep wondering if the Millers would accept a gift of a child-sized, white wicker rocker originally
purchased for Bud. Would it be a child’s delight, or an intrusive gift? It was meant as a gift of love
for Bud, surely that love could continue for a delightful child?
It’s a nice idea Nancy, but we’re not interested in giving Bud’s chair away.
I too miss your Amish reporting. It calmed me. Perhaps this spring, you could visit and give us an update on their spring planting and then the harvesting later on in the summer and fall. You can probably tell I was a gardener and miss having my hands in the soil. Thank you Jon for giving us good stories.
I’m sure there will be many updates in the future Patsy, if so, they won’t be planned, but will be natural and spontaneous. I write the things that are in my life at the moment, one can’t plan or schedule that.
I don’t miss you writing about the Miller’s. It was dominating the blog. I enjoy your blog now more. I personally believe you should leave them to their insular lives. I could sstpy more but I wont.
I appreciate your message and thanks for it, Donna. I will say I disagree. I am proud of what I wrote about the Amish and enjoyed every minute of it. I have not in any way disrupted their insular lives, which continue as they want them to. I helped to explain them to people who wanted to know more about them. They did not object to my work, nor did I invade their privacy against their wishes. We both benefitted a great deal from our coming together.
People in the community got a positive look at them, and the rest of us got some lessons in tolerating people who are different. I intend to write about them often and well into the future. They did not dominate my blog but represented a small fraction of what I wrote these past months. This is what writers do – focus on things of interest to them and others. I’m taking a breather, which is healthy but am very much in touch with them and will write about them as often as is warranted. Sorry to disagree…You don’at have to hide your feelings, I’m a big boy, just spit it right out…