“The only thing constant in life is change.” — Francois de la Rochefoucauld (circa 1660-70)

I recently bought new sheets. Again. Which means I have been trying to buy sheets for years, but I can’t find any I like as much as I like my old ones. I’ll pause here and tell you that my “old ones” are OLD. (Yes, I really meant to triple emphasize this.) They are ancient. So prehistoric that I can’t read the tags on them any longer. The elastic is shot, but they are still perfect. Just old.

Old is okay. Perfectly fine, even. Not everything in my life has to be new. These sheets don’t have holes (yet, thank heavens) but I only have one set. Which means wash and dry and remake the bed all in one day. I need new sheets—or at the very least a second set—but what I really want is my old sheets to be new again.

The last sheets I bought are some astronomical thread count with ‘deep pockets’ and hotel quality this and that. They are a beautiful pale blue and will match the planned-but-not-yet-realized new décor in the room. But they pull out from under the mattress and make wrinkles in the middle. I can’t sleep on wrinkles. And all the covers seem to slide right off. Which means in the morning I’m lugging everything back on the bed so I can get it in order.

To my credit I did use them for about six months. Until one day I went to the closet and pulled out the old faithfuls. The sheets we bought in…Nope, I’m not going to tell you how old they are. Let’s just say I bought them when we got the new bed which was when we decided to turn in our waterbed for a mattress and box springs. (And don’t get me started about how much I wish we had the waterbed back!)

Yes, change is hard. Sometimes necessary and sometimes not, but usually difficult to wade through regardless.

This is what’s facing Priscilla in The Amish Rancher’s Return. She’s got the past coming back to her when Isaiah returns to Millers Creek, but the changes he brings with him are going to seriously alter her life. She needs the income from her homemade Amish dolls to keep up her strive to independence.

To be fair, these changes really aren’t Isaiah’s fault. He didn’t decide to give his father memory problems or to sell the family business because of them. He just thought that maybe it was time to visit. And he certainly isn’t to blame for Priscilla jumping ahead and marrying someone else, thinking Isaiah would never return to Pennsylvania.

Now widowed with twin girls, Priscilla still feels slighted. They were headed to the altar and Isaiah decided to go out west and play cowboy on one of the Amish-owned ranches in Montana. Having him back is bringing up all sorts of memories that she would rather forget. Especially since he is determined to mess up her very existence. The best thing to do is stay as far away from him as possible. But in a community as small as Millers Creek, that isn’t as easy as it sounds.

And as always…Thanks for reading!