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 | 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 | Jul 11, 2015 | blog, Coming of Age, Education, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Nostalgia, Recipes, Tips, Uncategorized
First of all, there was no parade and no song. But there was a plate. A plate of cupcakes. I can show you the plate, but the cupcakes are missing. Why? Because our grandchildren ate them all up. In fact the two older boys ate theirs up seconds after they landed on the...
by MarianBeaman | Mar 4, 2015 | Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
I am sitting with my three friends, Gladys Graybill, Hazel Garber, and Millie Zimmerman near the pulpit in front of Bossler Mennonite Church to be baptized. At the prompting of our Bishop Clarence E. Lutz, we kneel, and as we kneel I hear the crinkle of the skirt of...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 15, 2014 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Nostalgia, Recipes, Tips, Uncategorized
BAKE It’s cold outside, maybe even Polar-vortex cold, and Saturdays with Grandma or Aunt or Mom will be spent indoors. One cold day three of our grandkids warmed up the house, at least the kitchen, with cupcake baking. Yes, it’s fun to help mix up the...
