Lancaster, PA

Lancaster County to me, like most people, means the world of the Amish culture.  It holds almost a feeling of serenity for me when I am here.  My first trip here was in 1987, I think, and was just an overnight stop on the return trip home from NC.  Since that time I have been here almost annually and sometimes more than that.  BUT, it was not until 2001 on Memorial Day weekend that it became not only my favorite place but also a place with a sense of a complete family.  In 1955 my mother gave birth to a son whom she gave up for adoption. From then until 1993 I was lead to believe as I had been told at the age of 6 that he had died when he was born.  My family was gathering to celebrate the wedding of one of my nieces when the subject turned to the child who I, for 47 years, thought had died.  When it came to light that he was alive the search was on.

Well in all my infinite wisdom I knew in my heart that I had to find this man who had grown from that baby.  The journey took 7 years with a lot of dead ends and road blocks because it was a closed adoption.   One cold January Sunday morning I was searching the adoption sites  when I ran across an ad for help  searching for family members.  This gentleman through the goodness of his heart has learned many tricks to find missing family members.  To make a long story short in March through his network of helpers he found my brother.  I was so excited that but had to wait until Memorial Day weekend before we could come to PA and believe me it was hard to wait until Memorial Day weekend, but we talked on the phone and emailed pictures back and forth until the day finally came.  We were all nervous to say the least and there were 6 of us from NH who had come down to meet Tom and his family that weekend, so a bit intimidating for Tom and his family at first.  And amazingly all those years that I spent here in Lancaster he lived just across the river and we had no idea.

Since that weekend we have formed a very strong bond and even though I have 5 other brothers I feel closest to Tom and his wife Robin.  When my husband passed away last year Tom was the one who came to stay with me and was my rock through that time along with another dear friend.

So for me one of my longest stops in this journey is to spend time with this part of my family.  Today I got to see the newest of my great nephews, Layne, who is just three weeks old.  I haven't held a baby that small in 20 years since my last grandchild was born.  There is nothing like the scent of a new baby, but this old woman is very glad that I could give him back to Mommy.  We had a wonderful day with family and the first since that initial weekend when we could all be together.

So while I will travel around and take some pictures to post this time is more about family than sightseeing as I have done all that in the past.  I will share some of my favorite sights and maybe go to a few I have not been to before.  This is truly a wonderful place to visit.

Until next time.......