by MarianBeaman | Feb 22, 2017 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Nostalgia, Quotations, Uncategorized
Five journals, spiral-bound, sit in my writing studio. Their pages, bowed from cargo storage on flights from Florida to Pennsylvania, contain snatches of conversation from the last nine years of Aunt Ruthie’s life. Since 2008, she has had to cope with a pacemaker...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 8, 2017 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Literature, Quotations, Uncategorized
The Lion and the Mouse Once upon a time a mischievous mouse scampered across the outstretched paw of a sleeping lion, awakening him from his nap. The king of beasts clapped his paw upon the pitiful creature that squealed: “ Please don’t kill me! The day may come when...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 28, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, popular culture, Uncategorized
History buffs and Downton Abbey devotées know that 1912 is the year of the sinking of the Titanic. What Else Happened in 1912? On the world scene Woodrow Wilson elected President Japan sends 3020 cherry trees to the United States First neon sign appears in Paris...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 21, 2016 | Christmas, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
When I was a little girl, my Aunt Ruthie painted this wooden dish with a lamb and the Bethlehem star. She made one for each of my sisters too. I’m sorry there is no date though I imagine we were in elementary or middle school in the early 1950s. Christmas...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 14, 2016 | blog, Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia
Not Quite a Bar Mitzvah Grandsons Patrick and Curtis, born 7 weeks apart in Chicago, both turned thirteen this fall. If they were Jewish, they would each have observed the bar mitzvah ritual: Bar = son; Mitzvah = law or commandment, able to participate in all areas of...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 23, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Gratitude, Literature, meditation, Mennonite History, Paska, Quotations
Before families went over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house, a postcard may have appeared in their mailbox to mark this grand American holiday of gratitude in the early 1900s. Grandma Fanny Longenecker saved three of hers. In this card dated...
