Guder Daag !
Let me introduce myself, my name is Levi Miller and I was born on September 8th 1987 in Lancaster county. My parents had eight children and I came after my five siblings. I was born at home, which is pretty common in our community. The Amish have three options : we could choose the traditional birth method, so the future mother could give birth at home, she could go to a Birth Center or the woman could give birth in a hospital. The families pick the 1st option more often because the environnement is usually, more comfortable than a the hospital. Moreover the cost is more important in a hospital than in a Birth Center or at home.
I had a beautiful childhood with my family and the whole village. I went to the nearest school from 1st to 8th grade, there was an unique class with a teacher, who wasn’t recognized by the State. I studied English, German, Mathematics, Geography and History. I’m always smilling when I think about all the good times I had with all my friends playing baseball, volleyball, riding our scooters in the countryside or walking on the way from school to home (around 15 000 feet per day for the children). Otherwise I had my chores, I could be asked to watch the animals, to milk the cows, or just to help my dad… My childhood was very pleasant and restful. But I was really looking for something else, something that every Amish child is seeking for.
You might wonder how we get medical treatment right ? You need to know that we use the same physicians as you do. The problem is that it was really expensive, because we don’t have any health insurance, God is ours; but we do participate in taxes for the State, we only use them when we have a big emergency like a heart attack or when you are badly wounded.
Rumspringa is the time I was waiting for, it started when I turned 16. You may think it is a strange word, you are very right ! It means ‘’running around’’ in Pennsylvanian Dutch.
Granddad was always referring to that period as a vaccine, ‘’inject the desease to be safe’’ he said. My family were very tolerant and gave me a lot more freedom. They wouldn’t punish us for the things we did. You could go to the ‘’English world’’ (every non Amish thing is called English) during that period, and experiment new things. We swapped our regular clothes for English ones, some girls were even starting to wear make-up. We also didn’t have to go to school (because we stopped after 8th grade) so we could hang out with our friends. During this period we also had to choose our husband/wife, the one we are going to spend our whole life with. I remember the first party I ever had, it was taking place at an English boy’s house. My Amish friends were all smoking and I drank my first beer !
It was so fun to discover new things and to finally do those ‘forbidden’ things.
At the age of 23 my Rumspringa was finally over. I really loved this period and it was one of the happiest parts of my life but I realised this wasn’t the life I wanted. I found my soulmate: during our trip to the beach, I met Carrie Fisher a breathtaking woman, we began to be really good friends. Later she became my wife.
I joined the church, promised to be loyal to my community and I commited to adopt the Amish lifestyle for the rest of my life ; I am a real Amish man now, here for his family and ready to participate in the church.
Ashley, Leandre, Deport, Anna
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