Writing from the Heart with Brian
Think, Laugh, & Cry Each Day
When friends learn that my mom was raised Amish, deciding to leave the church and her family when she was 17, I usually get a few strange looks. People want to know more about the conservative Old Order Amish Mennonite Church and why they shun electricity and modern technology. They usually have questions too about... Continue Reading →
When I was a teenager in 1985, the film Witness, starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis, hit movie theaters. In the movie, Samuel, a young Amish boy (Lukas Haas) with his mother Rachel (McGillis) is the sole witness to a gruesome murder at a Philadelphia train station. Police detective John Book (Ford) gets assigned to... Continue Reading →
My mother grew up Amish but left the church when she was a young woman. My mom may have chosen a different direction for her life, but she still loved her parents and when she got married and had kids, she would occasionally take my brothers and me to visit them. Pexels Image My grandparents... Continue Reading →
I saw flashes of red light in front of me. The two cars that I had been following for the past ten minutes started pumping on their brakes. They had been driving at a pretty high rate of speed, but now were coasting to something just above a walk. I groaned. I had run smack... Continue Reading →
When I was a young kid, my mother would occasionally pack up my brothers and I into the family car and cart us off for the hour to two hour drive to visit my grandparents or one of our aunts or uncles, who were Amish. My mother grew up Amish in rural Central Pennsylvania (think... Continue Reading →
When Mother's Day rolls around each year, I often find myself thinking of my mother, not as a grown women caring for my brothers and me or, even now, loving life as a grandmother, but instead, I find myself thinking of her as a young girl. In fact, I'm ultimately drawn back to a piece... Continue Reading →
Writing from the Heart with Brian 
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