Special Report: Leaving the Amish Life
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Posted: 11:11 PM May 21, 2008
Special Report: Leaving the Amish Life
It's the perfect May day in Elizabethtown, and the Schrock family is out enjoying the breeze. Today, the family's five strong, but seven years ago, Saloma and Isaac were a young dating couple in Senora, Tennessee as part of an Amish community.
Reporter: Forrest Sanders
Email Address: forrest.sanders@wbko.com
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It's the perfect May day in Elizabethtown, and the Schrock family is out enjoying the breeze. Today, the family's five strong, but seven years ago, Saloma and Isaac were a young dating couple in Senora, Tennessee as part of an Amish community.

"Life in the Amish. It was all I knew," Saloma remembers.

"It was a very simple life," adds Isaac. "All that we were allowed as far as electricity was batteries and a flashlight. I remember growing up asking my parents, why do we do things like this? They would say, 'because we've always done it that way'."

For Isaac and Saloma, that answer wasn't good enough.

"Until the night we left the Amish, me and my wife didn't even talk about leaving," Isaac recalls.

"There was a lot of little things going on and the preachers came and talked," says Saloma. "It was actually because we were seeing each other too much during the day."

"We creeped out into the night and sat on a log in the woods," Isaac says.

"We just got to talking and we said, we're so sick of this," Saloma adds.

"I went in, got my stuff, went back to her place, got her stuff, we left," remembers Isaac.

"It felt like the right thing to do," says Saloma. "It felt so right and it felt like freedom."

It was an impulsive decision and one that came with challenges.

"Missing the family was the biggest challenge," Isaac says.

"My mom and dad at first would not let me back in the house," adds Saloma.

"My family don't write me. I write them letters, they don't write back," says Isaac.

"My parents both still write to me, but even in their letters, you can feel the distance," Saloma explains.

So, Isaac and Saloma forced themselves to move on. Today, Isaac works as a truck driver, while Saloma's a full time mom for five-year-old Victoria, three-year-old Jacob, and nine-month-old Shania.

"The conveniences of modern electricity and cars, that was like, man, how'd I live without it?" laughs Isaac.

But that's not to say Isaac and Saloma never feel their Amish roots.

"Sometimes I get to where I wanted to wear my old dress. I wanted to get into the old clothes," explains Saloma.

As for Isaac, he's hoping to start a career as a retailer and wholesaler of Amish-made furniture.

"My dad used to say, you get sawdust in your hair, you can comb it out. You get sawdust in your blood, you can't get rid of it," he says.

Building furniture, as part of a community strong in support for one another is what Isaac and Saloma miss most about their Amish life to this day.

"I did grow up with a lot of quality and I'm proud of that," says Isaac.

"That's important to me to hand down the values that I learned," Saloma adds. "It was a wonderful life.

But according to Saloma and Isaac, so is this one.

"I don't regret a thing. I don't regret it a bit," Isaac smiles. "As far as lifestyle, I'm happy as can be. I wouldn't trade nothing."


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