Ohio Get Together

 

L to R: Shelley, Anne, & Joyce

Sixteen years ago I traveled to Ohio from Maryland to meet up with these three women, friends from the days we attended the same Ohio college.  I haven't seen Shelley or Anne since then, but did meet up with Joyce in 2024 when Dan and I traveled to Chicago and stopped overnight at Joyce's home in Ohio.  The three of them have stayed in better contact since Shelley and Joyce have been friends a very long time and Anne travels to Ohio frequently from Texas.

Here's how we all look now.

L to R: Anne, Shelley, me, Joyce

I flew to Cleveland on Tuesday the 18th and the three of them picked me up at the airport.  Anne had arrived earlier in the day and rented a van.  From Cleveland we drove south to Sugar Creek, Ohio in the midst of what's called Amish Country.

We stayed in the same three room suite we had before and remarked that it looked the same.

We had a wonderful time reconnecting: recounting the changes in our lives, sharing stories about ourselves and our families. We are all grandmothers!

Panorama from the balcony one morning.

Setting out that first morning, Wednesday, we soon discovered that Amish Country had changed in 16 years. Rather than shops owned by Amish or Mennonite filled with handicrafts and woodworking, the stores were rather upscaled and filled with imports.  Young Amish women were staffing them, but after talking to one who waited on us at a pizza restaurant, Amish didn't own the businesses.  Nor did the Amish staff arrive by buggy.  Electric bicycles were all over the place and very few buggies in evidence.

In another shop on another day I got up the nerve to ask when the Amish elders embraced electric bikes.  It was 6 years ago.  I then followed up with the question about electric cars but she didn't know if that would be next.  She said she preferred the old ways, but bringing a buggy wasn't feasible because of parking.

We took to the backroads to see some Amish farms since they weren't visible from the main roads.  What we found were very neat and newly updated houses.  Some with solar panels. Obviously the wealth of the Amish had increased in 16 years probably in response to both young men and women who once toiled on the farms, now having jobs bringing income to the families.

The whole "Amish" experience was so different from what we expected. Each ordnung sets their own rules for daily life and as my sister who lives in PA says, the Ohio Amish are considered very liberal.  That did explain a lot. Soon a trip to Ohio Amish country will have to reflect on what once was the former Amish way of life.

I made some purchases but none were made by Amish craftsmen/women. The only thing reflecting on the Amish was this magnet which now resides on the side of my washer with the rest of my collection.