“Amish Rescue”
My family and I love to vacation in Lancaster County. Being from such a big city like Philadelphia, we enjoy going out to the country and experiencing the laid-back lifestyle that surround the Amish community.
We have stayed in an Amish Air B&B, we have had dining experiences with an Amish family, and love it all. We never expected the experience we had on our latest vacation.
We were more than overdue for a vacation to our favorite place to stay. This was not our usual routine, but we decided to pack the week leading up to us leaving so that when I got home from work, we could pack the van and head out. We were hoping to be there in a enough time to get into town and relax by the indoor pool while eating our take-out dinner. We found that if we order our food while driving up, we could pick it up, take it to our destination and it makes for a good night to unwind. This time, we did just that. When we were at T minus 30 minutes, my wife, Kelly, called and placed the order. I pulled into the lot and waited while she and my daughter, Savanna, went in to pick the food up. After picking the food up, we knew we were only about 6 minutes away from the place we stay at. At this point both Kelly and I worked that day and tried to get on the road as soon as possible. Without stopping to eat before leaving, we were starving but knew we'd eat as soon as we arrived.
Before I get to the next part, I have to let you know, if you don't already, about my fascination with the Amish. I am so intrigued with their lifestyle, their discipline, the respect they show towards not only each other but others as well. As we drive into town, I anxiously search for the first horse and buggy as a sign that we have arrived. It wouldn't be so bad if I were to just spot it and point it out. Not me! I have to roll my window down just enough to HEAR the clipity-clop of the horse and the murmur of the rolling buggy wheels. To me, it's a warm comforting sound. Of course, it's not just once, I roll the window down EVERY TIME we pass one. It annoys my family to no end, but I don't care, I find it comforting.
Ok, so now that you know about that little detail about me, this next part will make total sense. My family and I just rolled into town, we picked up our to-go dinner and are only 6 minutes away from chowing down. We are driving down the road and sure enough, HERE COMES ONE. I spot the first horse and buggy of the trip. As per the usual, I roll my window down to hear the passing comforting sound and keep my eye on the buggy to watch as it passes. Sometimes I'll wave to see if they are friendly. Today is TOTALLY different. As I watch this buggy turn the bend, I see a young Amish girl fall out of the buggy, onto her arm and roll onto the road into on-coming traffic. Thankfully they did not hit her. My heart sank and I must have made an audible noise because Kelly asked what was wrong. I told her “that girl just fell out of the buggy!” As we drive past, the buggy continues to go on and the girl is running along the shoulder of the road to catch up. I call out the window asking if she is ok and she SAID she was, but by the look on her face it looked like she was in shock.
We find the next driveway and make a u-turn to find this girl. We just wanted to make sure she was ok. The impression that I had was that after falling out, the mother and father in the buggy kept going in order to find a safe place to pull over and retrieve their daughter. We caught up with her and through the window asked again if she was ok, now spotting the road rash on the arm she fell onto. Again, she told us she was ok before continuing to try and catch up. We told her we would take her to her family, where ever that may be. At this point, we didn't care how far we would have to drive out of our way, our only concern was that this girl got the help she needed. After convincing her that we didn't mind helping her, she got in the van and we drove on to where we saw another, younger, Amish girl. Kelly called out the window “We have your sister”. The sister nodded and kept walking on. I believe she was in shock as well, not understanding what was going on. We turned to where the younger sister looked like she was headed and now saw the horse pulling the buggy into a field behind a house. We parked the car as Kelly told Savanna to try to help since she has some experiences with horses.
Now that we were out of the car, the true story began to unravel. There were no parents in the buggy at all. These three sisters were heading somewhere when an important piece to controlling the horse snapped, something spooked the horse and he took off. The sister that we had seen fall out of the buggy, didn't actually fall, she jumped. She was attempting to jump out and regain control of the horse to save her sisters but fell.
As the horse was running wild in this filed, one sister jumped in front of it waving her arms trying to get it to stop. Instead, the horse made a u-turn went around me and was heading back for the road. At this point, all three sisters were now out of the buggy trying to stop the horse. One sister yelled to Kelly to stand in it's path and wave her arms just as she was already doing. The horse went around their attempted blockade and began to slow down when it approached our van again. That's when one of the sisters, grabbed the straps and pulled. It did drag her on her feet a little but finally stopped.
The girls told us what had happened. We told them that the sister with the road rash needed to be taken care of. They all nonchalantly said she was ok and told us this happens sometimes. We couldn't believe how calm they were about the injury.
Here we all are with the horse, the girls detached the buggy and led the horse over to a building where a man no one knew was coming out and told the girls where they could secure the horse. After the girls successfully secured the horse, the evaluated the situation and said they needed to replace the piece that broke so they could get the horse and buggy back home. We could not leave them in this dilemma. We drove the oldest sister back to her house which was a good 5 minute drive. I can't imagine them having to walk all that, especially up the hilly roads, to go all the way home and then walk back,
Once we got to their house we pulled into the drive way and I have never felt so out of place. Neighboring Amish were staring at us as the girl got out and went into her house to get help. They were not threatening stares, more curiosity, a “why are there English people in a van in their driveway” kind of thing.
After a few moments, the girl returned with her brother who brought a replacement for the piece that broke. We drove them back to the scene trying to make small talk along the way. I think they were still in a bit of shock and there may have been a language barrier. Pennsylvania-Dutch being their first language, they knew English but not as well. Before getting out of the van, they tried to give us money for our time and service but we wouldn't have it. We just wanted to make sure everyone was ok. They assured us that they had the situation under control and they could take it from there. We made a u-turn in the field and checked with them again before heading on to our destination.
That is how our relaxing vacation started. Once we made it to our lodging, we called our loved ones, as we always do, to let them know we made the trip safely. As we told everyone what happened, it sounded like a made-up movie. We were even told that one person we texted the story to, thought this was a TikTok trend for us to recite movie lines or lyrics to a song to get them to figure it out. Nope! This was all 100% real.
They say that life is stranger than fiction. I can now attest to that. I would never be able to write this story if it didn't actually happen. We have seen thousands of horse and buggies, never ONCE did we ever see anyone fall out of one. As we recounted the story, we were shocked by one thing. For as busy as that road was, not only is it remarkable that she was not hit by a car, but we were shocked that not ONE car stopped to see if this girl was ok. Everyone else just kept on going like nothing happened.
God, truly, works in mysterious ways. Kelly had planned on her first attempt at driving a highway but for some reason decided not to. She said she was glad I was driving because if she saw that girl fall out, she would have freaked out. As Savanna pointed out, if we had left a minute later or a minute earlier, we would not have been in the position to help that family out. EVERYTHING happens for a reason. You may not understand it at the time, but there truly is a reason.
Until, next time,
Thank you for reading and Enjoy Yourself.
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All content by Keith J. Fisher
©2023 Grazie Santangelo. All Rights Reserved.
