We weren’t home all weekend as we attended the Eicher reunion in Berne, Ind. Joe’s late father came from a family of 17 children, so there was a very large attendance. Fourteen of the 17 children are still living. They were all at the reunion except one or two. The reunion was held at Joe’s Uncle Roman and Aunt Flossie’s house. They served the food in a big pole-barn and on some tables, plus there were two big tents with more tables to eat at. There was such a variety of foods! There were so many different kinds of meat, salads, casseroles cakes, cookies, pies, fruits, puddings and drinks. Much too numerous to mention everything.
Plenty of homemade ice cream was also made by the gallon. A big ice cream freezer was run by a gas-powered motor. It looked funny because a wooden man was attached to it making it look like he was cranking all the ice cream by hand. Joe’s aunt and family did a lot of work to get ready for the reunion. The reunion was bigger than a lot of weddings. But I am not sure how many people were there. There were a lot of buggies and some buses that had brought in people from out of town.
We knew Verena might have one of her post-concussion episodes out there, but Joe was eager to go since they don’t have one of these reunions often. We decided to try attending and left Saturday morning with all eight of our children and Elizabeth’s special friend Tim.
We were out there for just a little awhile before Verena started with one of her episodes. We went to a motel, where our good friends are the owners. Jean, one of the owners, was there, and she was good to us and understanding about the situation. They prepared a room for us to take Verena to so she could have some quiet time. This episode lasted only two hours but we were still afraid that we were going to be too late to go to the reunion. But it worked out OK, everyone was still eating when we got there.
Verena was OK for the rest of our stay in Berne. We had plenty of family and friends that would have gladly let us stay at their house Saturday evening, but we decided to go to the motel since Verena recovers quicker from these episodes if she stays calm and away from too many people. She also tells us to keep her away from others as she knows she has no control over her actions and words in times like those. It can be embarrassing to her afterwards. She is still able to walk during her episodes, which is an improvement, and they have only been lasting two to four hours, which is also better.
Brother Amos and Nancy invited us to their house Saturday evening for a good outdoor supper.
The children enjoyed swimming in the pool at the motel. I think being in the water relaxed Verena as she slept most of the way home. We arrived home about 5 p.m. and it was good to be back home again.
A reader gave me this recipe for green tomato pie, which is a great way to use up tomatoes that haven’t yet ripened.
Columns
Amish Cook: Large family reunites for day of food and fun
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