06/15/2025
Happy Father's Day! For Father's Day in the Amish we would have family gatherings, going to our grandparents house. Sometimes we would give dad a small gift. My mom sometimes did something special for dad or made his favorite food. One Father's day stands out more than any other from when I was Amish. I think it was in 2014, when dad hitched up the horse to the buggy and my 4 brothers and I climbed into the back of the buggy and we started off to visit my grandparents. We had just bought a new horse, not knowing that the previous owner, who was an Amish man down the road, lied to dad in order to sell the horse. We were about halfway to my grandparents house and the horse shyed from a tractor that was sitting still beside the road, and he took us into the ditch. It happened so fast but at the same time, so slow. The buggy flipped over and my brothers and I all fell on each other. Dad tried to get out of the buggy and get the horse under control. Another buggy came up from behind us and helped us out. One by one my brothers and I climbed out the back of the buggy, and mom climbed out from the front. The glass bowl of strawberry pudding under the front seat was not damaged, but the buggy was totaled! We took the horse to the neighbors barn next door. The property where the accident happened was who we called the 'feed man', who was not Amish, who sold horse feed to the community. They were so kind to give us a ride to my grandparents. We didn't call an ambulance but we were all sore from the accident. We only stayed at my grandparents for a little while and than returned home and the next day dad went to the urgent care and found out he had torn ligaments in his shoulder, he had to wear an arm sling for a while. My older brother and I were in charge of managing our family business that day while dad tried to heal up. We didn't have a horse and buggy for about a whole year after that, as dad's shoulder had to heal and we had to buy a new buggy. The Amish man who sold us the horse knew that this horse had been taking people into the ditch for no reason and he refused to tell dad because the only thing on his mind was to make money. 😔 This is not the best Father's Day memory, that's for sure! But it is the one that stands out the most.
