Appreciating The Simple

In Charm, Ohio at Sunset

I decided to step outside and get a breath of fresh air. I had been inside the stuffy hotel room for a couple hours in a "charming" Amish Country village in Charm, Ohio. For about 3 days I was visiting a good friend of mine who lives in the countryside of Ohio about 1 1/2 hours away from Amish Country where we were vacationing together and enjoying a nice time. Earlier that day we were eating in a Swiss restaurant, sampling  Swiss cheese in a Swiss Cheese factory and relaxing as I continued to gaze out the window in her car as we drove into the quaint town of Sugar Creek a couple miles up from Charm. Out my window the sights are ones I have a hard time describing.  Amish buggies passing by my window out of her Ford Focus, I notice a group of Amish teenagers riding bikes at record speed on their way to the grocery store, A Mennonite woman walking down a winding path to the yarn shop. This was my environment and view for 3 days and the last day and we were settling down in our hotel reflecting on our experiences here.  The hotel is nestled up high on a hill with no street lights in view at night as I sat there on the balcony that night. I needed to get out of that hotel room that was quite stuffy, and to be honest, I had forgotten that there was fresh air to be inhaled. I remembered I needed to text my husband about my flight home to LA the next morning as I sat there on the gliding bench. There is something special about the thought and realization of where I really was at the moment that made me look down at my iPhone and pause for a moment and proceeded to turn it off.  I sat there with the 28 degrees and no city or house lights in sight in this unique place and closed my eyes for that moment  there, I could hear in the distance the echo of a dog barking, followed by another dog in the distance as if to answer the first bark of the dog. I remember this almost mystical "clip, clap, clop, clip, clap, clopping" of a horse and buggy coming down on the highway. It was so surreal I remember never having this exact experience quite like this before. My mind wanted to allow my heart go to a place of true respect for this Amish community and to (for that moment) stop my texting, stop my planning, stop my thoughts from what was ahead and the responsibilities of tomorrow.  We can learn a lot from the Amish way of life even if we only embrace  that of living more simply, appreciating what we have and learning to be still and never "striving" for things in life but trusting and working hard in an attitude of thankfulness.