by MarianBeaman | Jul 13, 2013 | Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Neighborhood / Environment, Uncategorized
Home for me is bracketed by the two houses we ping-pong between: our parents house and Grandma’s house on Anchor Road. Her house is at the bottom of the hill and ours at the top. Both houses are along side Anchor Road, between Elizabethtown to the west and...
by MarianBeaman | Jul 3, 2013 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
“Keep your hand upon the throttle and your eye upon the rail,” my Dad sings in his top-of–the-lungs baritone, the volume of his voice amplified by the force of his hands on the keyboard. Every Saturday night Daddy sits down at our mahogany Marshall and Wendell...
by MarianBeaman | Jun 29, 2013 | Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one, Excepting February alone, And that has twenty-eight days clear, And twenty-nine in each leap year. Memory is at the heart of memoir. It fuels unfolding stories. A memoir writer like...
by MarianBeaman | Jun 26, 2013 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
“Get out! Get out!” For heaven’s sake, that is my mom’s voice yelling at someone at the door. Why would she scream at a neighbor? But it wasn’t a neighbor. It was Stinky Joe. On a cold winter’s day, he had opened the door to the wash-house and was starting to...
by MarianBeaman | Jun 22, 2013 | Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
Valentine’s Day conjures up images of hearts, flowers, and boxes of chocolate for most, but not for Yost. Yost is the father of Valentine Metzler, an ancester on my mother’s side of the family, born on Valentine’s Day, 1792. This past weekend, nearly 500 Metzlers from...
by MarianBeaman | Jun 19, 2013 | Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
Lititz Springs Park At the reunion, Uncle Clyde walks over to my mother and Aunt Cecilia to say something. We’re nosy and so we move closer to get within earshot. “Ruth, I believe Uncle Monroe’s and Uncle Herman’s bunch think you’re serving wine and won’t come over to...
