A north country moment

21st century meets something older

 A few weeks ago, our neighbors Sam and Delilah Shetler were on their way home from a wedding at Mose Shetler’s. It was 10 pm. We were in bed (geez, in bed before our Amish neighbors!) when the dogs started barking and there was a knock at the door. A man we didn’t know said he had just stopped up the road because an Amish buggy had been in an accident and the people asked him to come get us. We found Sam and Delilah unhurt–except for Delilah’s huge shiner– the four small children were fine, too, but shook up and scared. I drove Delilah and the kids the two miles to their home; Bill helped Sam get the horse put away in our barn for the night, then we took him home.

Thinking that other Amish neighbors still at the wedding might pass the buggy on their way home and worry about the Shetlers, we drove over to the wedding to let people know that all was okay. At first, Mose couldn’t place me–after all, the wedding festivities for his daughter had started 12 hours earlier. As a result, he wasn’t even sure who had been involved in the accident–his nephew shares his name with a number of other Shetlers. Finally, I said, “Mose, I’m the woman you bought the side rake from a couple of years ago.” Immediately, “Oh, yes, Ellen Rocco. Of course.” 

The photo here was taken the next morning when Bill brought our tractor to the scene of the accident, thinking we’d need it to get the buggy upright. Just a few moments later, Sam and a couple of other Amish men showed up and simply tipped the buggy back on its wheels . This is the original light-weight, low-gas mileage vehicle. Nice to see them still running up and down our road.

Tags: Amish buggy, buggy accident