My son comes up with all sort of crazy ideas. Most of them revolve around wanting to have ice cream for dinner or wearing his pajamas to school. Sometimes he has an idea that actually makes me say, “hmmmm...maybe we should try that”. Like the day he asked if we could be Amish.

It was a typical fall evening in suburbia. Dinner was on the stove, kids were watching TV. Just as I am about to call everyone in for dinner my son comes bouncing in the room yelling about something he saw on TV.

“Mom, let’s be Amish!”
“Yea sure PJ, sounds great.”

Suddenly everything is dark and PJ is asking where the matches are so that I can finish cooking dinner without the stove. OK, what did I miss?

He explained how he had just watched something on TV about being Amish and he wanted us to be Amish for a little while.

I asked him to tell me what he thought being Amish meant. He did a very good job. He said that we weren’t allowed to use any electricity, we should make our own clothes, get a horse, and start planting vegetables.

Alrighty then, let’s take one change at a time.

For the rest of the evening we were Amish. After I convinced PJ that dinner was ready, and I didn’t need to start a fire, we sat down. We ate by candlelight, which I must admit was very calming. Everyone seemed to eat a little slower and talked quietly. We talked about all the things we could do without electricity, and I reminded my son of all the things we couldn’t do. I also told him that I was NOT going to make clothes for us to wear.

After dinner I put the dishes in the sink and ignored them until we were done being Amish, since there was no way I was doing them by hand. My husband declared that the basement was “Amish Free” because he was “very busy” on the computer. The rest of us continued to be Amish. We sat and read some books by candlelight, played a few games, and got ready for bed.

I sat by PJ’s bed for a while that night because he wanted to fall asleep by candlelight. As he fell asleep I thought about our evening. No noise from the tv or radio. No fussing and complaining at dinner. We read five books that I never even knew we owned. No torturous bedtime antics. I think there is something to be said for living life at a slower pace.

We made a promise to be “Amish” once a week. It actually worked out for a little while until the crazy schedule we live by took over once again. I think that we might have to be Amish again tonight.

Bonnie is wondering how the Amish view their porn.

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