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Aunt Ruthie: Diary of a Long Goodbye

Aunt Ruthie: Diary of a Long Goodbye

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...
Are You Sensible? The Power of Touch, the Magic of Music

Are You Sensible? The Power of Touch, the Magic of Music

by MarianBeaman | Nov 9, 2016 | blog, Education, Family / Nostalgia, Reflection

Did you know that touching zaps your immune system with positive energy? Similarly, your brain goes into party mode when you hear and/or play music – so say the researchers. In this cropped photo, my sister Jan’s hand touches her Aunt Ruthie’s, who in turn is feeling...
Aunt Ruthie Longenecker: Her Life in Pictures

Aunt Ruthie Longenecker: Her Life in Pictures

by MarianBeaman | Oct 5, 2016 | blog, Coming of Age, Education, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Reflection, Uncategorized

Yesterday, Tuesday, October 4, my Aunt Ruthie celebrated her 98th birthday. Born in 1918, she is a towering figure in my life and, and along with Mother and Grandma Longenecker, my strongest mentor. And she has been mother/teacher to many. * * * See the determination...

Moments of Discovery # 9: Keys to the Riddle

by MarianBeaman | Jan 13, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized

A Riddle I have no head, and a tail I lack, But oft have arms, and legs, and a back; I inhabit the palace, the tavern, the cot- ‘Tis a beggarly residence where I am not. If a monarch were present (I tell you no fable), I still should be placed at the head of the...

A Snow Bunny and a German Lullaby

by MarianBeaman | Dec 30, 2015 | blog, Christmas, Cliff Beaman artist, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Travel, Uncategorized

On Christmas Day 2015 in Jacksonville, Florida, the temperature stood at 85, at least twenty degrees above the normal daytime thermometer reading for this time of year. Over most of the USA, Christmas day was warmer than usual, the forecasters predicting a near...
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