Book Review: Why I Left the Amish by Saloma Miller-Furlong

This has to be one of the most heartfelt non-fiction books regarding the Amish out there. I really love Saloma's calm and mellow personality and it shows in her memories.

Saloma was a child growing up in Amish Ohio. Her story recounts many details of her life, and the life of her Amish family as flashbacks, starting with her dying father and her decision on whether to visit him before he passes. In the book, present day, she is attending college with a husband and two grown sons. Continuing her education was a dream of hers and very important to her.

Looking back on her life, she speaks of the good times, and bad times, of her family. She speaks of her father, who struggled with a degree of mental illness from a troubled childhood himself. Her mother frequently had to pick up the slack for what he was unable and unwilling to do. Life on an Amish farm is difficult for each parent to begin with. But to handle all of the responsibility of a mother of a number of children, wife, and tending to the animals proved to be difficult for her.

Saloma tells the story of her various siblings and their struggles, as well. Including physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. She also speaks of her memories of becoming a member of the Amish church, which typically occurs during late teens-early 20's. There were things she didn't agree with the church on, but being an Amish female also meant being submissive to the men in her life and community.

But, unlike some stories you hear, Saloma does a fine job of not making it a story about pity or an Amish Bash Fest. She does a fine job of pulling you into her life, living her memories, filled with many laughs and many tears.

I do not want to give too much of the story away, but if you want a story of an Amish child and learning interesting information on how her particular community and family worked, this is a great story. I think the biggest plus in this story is her vivid memories told in a very mellow tone. Nothing wildly exaggerated. Simply like sitting down and having your mother or grandmother tell you the story of her life with no dull moments.

I'd definitely give it 5/5 stars!

January: Amish Lancaster Trip (Day Two: Thursday)

Woke up at 4:00 am to Alice coming upstairs and licking my face out of a deep sleep. Yucky. 

I decided to get up and use the bathroom right quick. It was nearly 10 hours since my last pain pill & with all the activity the day before I was feeling every ounce of it. I slept like a log otherwise, so that contributed to my pain. Oh the stiffness. But my pain medicine & Gabapentin was downstairs in my purse that I forgot. 

So, I went downstairs. I felt like I spent two hours as a novice at a gym. I hurt in places that never existed. So I took my morning meds & a pain pill. Generally, I have found spending all day in bed makes it worse. For one thing, my joints need movement & my muscle needs stretched. I'd LOVE to try an epidural in my SI joint where the rheumatoid damage is worse & where the spinal stenosis is bad. But with the nightmare that our healthcare has become we are eating expired food from food pantries half the time just to pay $800 a month for 2 people for a $6000 deductible plan. Never in my life have I seen it this bad. 

Anyways! Sorry about that. So I got up at 4:30 and helped entertain Alice with the laser light as David fed the horses & got ready for work.  

After he was gone I filled a bucket with Mr. Clean Lemon & a rag & cleared off the table & counter from breakfast. Then I got my wet Mr. Clean washcloth & wiped the table, countertops, cabinets, gas appliances, & bathroom surfaces down. Thought about sweeping the floor, but chose not to. Washed some clothes. I will dry those out later. 

So, I did my part in keeping mildly active & useful all in one. The strong medicines make me very drowsy, so now I'm cuddled under a sheet, a baby blue blanket, and a cute multi-colored quilt. 

I do have permission to stay in bed and rest after a physically & emotionally traumatic day (half-sarcasm) at Atlanta & Philadelphia's airports. (Why is my plane always at the end of the terminals?) Not to mention 30th Street Train Station in Philadelphia. And people. They make me want to cry. Standing in line after line with so many people ahead of me. 

But on a lighter note, I feel wonderful after talking to my 11-year-old last night. He sounded so happy. Ah. Music to my ears. And the snow. Something about the air when it snows. Almost feels... Cleaner? I don't know. 

Ok, I'm going to nap a little. The pain pills have overruled my eyelids. 

A Recommended Read!

I am familiar with this particular author, as I have purchased another creation of hers Speaking Amish. That book teaches you the basics of learning the Pennsylvania Dutch language. 

Now, she has come out with a new book, Lydia's Bonnet:

Order now! Special pre-order price! 

Lydia's Bonnet is the true story of a little Amish girl growing up with her four brothers in Lancaster County, PA. She has lots of friends at school, but one day her friends get her into trouble. And a certain blue bonnet is in the middle of it all. 

34 pages of big, beautiful photographs. 11 x 8 1/2. Paperback. Regular price $8.95. Now only $7.50 plus shipping! 

http://www.speakingamish.com/buy-books/

I have already jumped on this special offer & I encourage everyone else to do the same! I will update once I receive it & do a review once I am done with it. :-)

What day is it?!

I lost count of which day it is on SmartMix, but I'm still moving right along. I believe it's day 10. 

We just had a time change, which I think is a bonehead idea, and it's bound to throw me off. It did last night. I was so ready for bed. 

Tried to honor the Sabbath better yesterday. Normally I'm a mess cleaning house. I'm excited that Friday I swept the front porch, sidewalks, & driveway of dirt & leaves. I have an electric leaf lower, but I chose to do it manually, like a real woman :-) 

And Saturday I took my son Trick-Or-Treating like a nice mommy. He was something from Star Wars. I never got a good front shot, but lots from the back or side. So he was basically "The Black Thing" in all my pictures lol

So that was him. We did things a little different this year so there were more houses and fewer people. I get fussy when a lot of people are around acting completely ignorant. So I only got fussy once. We were waiting in line for cotton candy for Colin & they shut it down early. Just aggravated me. Happens every year. Grrrrrrr. 

But last Wednesday I made it to see my doctor. I was a little annoyed that the fee structure changed. It used to be $75 for new patients & $55 for established patients. Now it's $75 to see the dr and $55 to see the nurse practitioner. We aren't going there. So I paid it and waited. Gain 1.5 lbs. Oh well. 

My visit was very constructive with the doctor. He wants me in pain management for the rheumatoid arthritis. Until then he gave me some Norco's which have been a life saver until I can get in to get more long-term treatment, like cortisone shots in my joints. I do not want to do 1 Norco every 4 hrs of my life sort of thing. I want it when I really need it. If I don't need it for 2 days, I'm not taking it. I'm afraid of addiction. 

But anyways, the pills have allowed me to work outside on my house, clean inside more, walk my kid on Halloween & have those memories. This morning I am sore. It's been raining non-stop for 2 days. It's soaked. So I'm about to take some pills and take a nap. Trying to balance activity & rest. With the pills, starting my walking again sounds fantastic. But the rain. Grrrr!

Today & tomorrow I need to focus on packing for my trip. I'm flying out of Atlanta here at 8:30 am. It's a 2 hr flight. 1 hr in Philly. 1 hr Amtrak to Lancaster & 30 min to the Amish house I'm staying in. So I'll have about 3 hours to play with Alice the mutt till work time is over. I'm excited, nervous, worried. My dr made sure he prescribed enough pain medicine  for all the fast walking I need to do. I'll be good and relaxed for the plane ride though. I'm flying on Southwest Airlines, which is my preferred airline. I use their RapidPoints program & this is my free flight. Yay!!!

Thought I'd go to Michaels last night in Conyers to pick up a cross stitch project. I am SO frustrated. Their projects went from an entire row to a 5x7 area of cheesy 8th grader type projects. I wasn't pleased. Walmart doesn't carry any anymore that I could see. Hobby Lobby was respectfully closed. So forget it. I'll listen to podcasts. Only problem is that my ears pop the whole time so the ear buds are annoying. I'm grabbing a window seat. Hopefully we fly over bad weather or something exciting. Just please, not the drunk lady & the dude needing sedating from last time. I got contact drunk from the smell of her 10, yes 10, little vodka bottles. They need to limit it to 3. Seriously. 

So! That's that. I'll try to update Wednesday while traveling. Hopefully I'll post pictures of how I live Amish in Lancaster. Be back next Wednesday! Miss my boys already :-(