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Ex-Amish woman shares the '3 things' that shock people about her former life

Leaving the community was a huge change.

lizzie ens, amish, pennsylvania dutch
via JoeKeim/Pixabay and Lizzieen_Wellness/TikTok

Lizzie Ens opens up about her Amish past.

Leaving the Amish community to live in the outside world has to be a major shock. Overnight, one has to go from a world powered by horses and buggies to one ruled by technology.

Lizzie Ens, 36, left the Swartzentruber Amish community at 19 and has done a great job transitioning to a completely different lifestyle. She was able to get her high school diploma, become a certified health coach and founded Undiet Yourself.

She’s also become an influencer on TikTok with over 183,000 followers.

In a recent video, she looked back to her Amish past and revealed the “3 biggest things that shock people” about her Amish life.

@lizzieh_wellness

Always some of my top favorites to share that shocks people. 😝 #amishtiktok #examish #amishrenegade #breakingamish #amishlife #fyp #escapingamish #amishcountry

Her parents had 19 kids

“My parents have 19 kids, and within those 19 kids are three sets of twins and I’m a twin,” she revealed. “But not only that, my mom birthed all of these kids naturally.”

She had no social security number

“When I left, I had to go apply for a social security number and let’s not forget I had $20 to my name when I left,” Lizzie revealed.

She’s trilingual

“We are bilingual. Actually, we are trilingual,” Lizzie said. “Our first language is Pennsylvania Dutch, and then we learn German and English when we went to school.”

The Pennsylvania Dutch language is a Germanic dialect predominantly spoken by Amish and Mennonite communities, especially in Pennsylvania. Despite the name, it has no connection to the Dutch language. The term "Dutch" derives from "Deutsch," denoting "German." The dialect came to North America in the 17th and 18th centuries.

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Gen X has been designated the 'worst grandparents.' Sadly, their explanation makes sense.

The latch-key generation doesn't hate their family, they're burnt out.

Photo credit: Canva

Gen X designated the 'worst grandparents' by Millennials

Generation X, typically the children of Baby Boomers born between the years of 1965-1980 tend to have a complicated reputation depending on who you ask. Some view them as a feral generation never to be spoken of poorly without consequence, while others view them as innovators pushing us into the future. But in recent years, Gen Xers have been dubbed the "worst grandparents" by social media users.

This multi-year conversation started when a video went viral calling Gen X out for being "terrible" grandparents, claiming that they never want to help with grandchildren. It didn't take long before other Millennials piled on to air their own grievances about Gen X grandparents. Most people criticizing the "new grandparents" were genuinely perplexed as to how they did not want to be more involved in the lives of their grandchildren.

Gen X; Gen X grandparents; absent grandparents; Gen X worst grandparents; Millennials; worst grandparents; Gen ZFamily baking fun in the kitchen.Photo credit: Canva

Kylie Muse reveals in a video that she felt neglected by her Gen X parents growing up, saying, "It's quite a common theme for Gen X parents to be neglectful in some capacity and it's just crazy to me how more of them haven't learned from the past 20 to 30 years, instead of these grandparents seeing their kids having kids as an opportunity to restore the health in their relationships with their kids by showing up and helping them during the hardest transition of their lives, they would rather double down and compromise their relationship with that next generation. All for the sake of hyper-individualism and pride."

@kylies.muse Gen x grandparents and their beloved empty nest 🥴 just say you hate having a family 😭 #grandparents #grandparentsoftiktok ♬ original sound - Kylie ꩜

The critique coming from the younger generation is not lost on Gen X, and they started coming out in force to respond with such vigor you'd think John Hughes had just announced the re-release of The Breakfast Club. It would seem that some of the people complaining of the lack of involvement have not considered that Gen X could have valid reasons for not immediately jumping in to take on grandparenting in the way some expect. A man by the name of John S. Blake gives a candid look into why Gen X was neglected as children and, in turn, became hype-independent at an early age.

"As a Gen X who's been on this earth long enough to have some hindsight I can tell you this, being independent at a young age is not a flex, what it actually means is capitalism is so brutal that our parents were forced to neglect their own children to stay alive. My generation was struggling so much that we had to leave our children unattended in order to produce enough so that we could afford to exist," Blake says.

@blackfluidpoet Replying to @ellens0061 #foryoupage #homealone #fyp #foryou ♬ Slippin' - Re-Recorded - DMX

But perhaps one of the most heart wrenching explanations comes from an elder Millennial who goes by the name Amazing Dea. In response to another Millennial who asks about Gen X being let off the hook, Dea shares, "Being as though you look like you might be a younger Millennial, let me go ahead and enlighten you. Generation X and older Millennials had to live through more than just this pandemic. We had the crack epidemic, we had the AIDS epidemic and let me tell you something, it was scary as f***."

Dea went on to explain that there were apartment complexes burned due to high populations of people with AIDS living in them and how they would witness people go from being completely normal to being addicted to crack in a matter of weeks. It seems that depending on socioeconomic status, Gen Xers lived wildly different lives with the common theme being growing up entirely too fast at an extremely young age.

Gen X; Gen X grandparents; absent grandparents; Gen X worst grandparents; Millennials; worst grandparents; Gen ZThree generations smiling by the sea.Photo credit: Canva

Another person kindly breaks down the confusion over why Gen X isn't rising to the occasion of being award-winning grandparents. In response to the criticism she replies, "We grew up in a different time, first of all. A lot of us, meaning me, Gen X, I was raised by boomers. A lot of us did not get raised by our grandparents. We were like the feral kids, like by 7 and 9 years old we were actually babysitting our brothers and sisters, alright."

The woman explains further in the video that Gen X doesn't want to raise their grandchildren or simply be babysitters, that there's a difference between expecting grandparents to be involved and expecting them to be babysitters.

@that1crazy72 Let’s take it a step further. You share DNA with your grandkids they are part of you not everyone gets the privilege of being a grandparent so if you are one take that as a blessing #genxgrandparents ♬ original sound - That1crazy72

In many of the response videos shared by Gen Xers, they certainly seem to love their grandchildren and children alike, but there's a discrepancy in expectation. The consensus of the forgotten generation seems to be that they had adult responsibilities much too early, were exposed to adult life experiences at a young age, and were often left to their own devices for long periods of time while also being told that their voices didn't matter.

While the argument seems to be around their lack of involvement as grandparents, they appear to be saying that they want to enjoy the freedom they didn't have as children, while being valued as a person and not a babysitter. In many follow up videos, Gen Xers gushed over their grandchildren and how they loved when they were around. It's just that they draw the line at raising them. Maybe for some, their experiences with their own childhood isn't enough to move Gen X out of the "worst grandparents" category, but for others it provides much needed context.

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Joy

An elephant broke into a store in Thailand to steal snacks and the reactions are priceless

"Let's ignore it." "What?" "The elephant in the room."

Photo credit: Canva

An elephant broke into a store to steal snacks, yet no one's talking about it.

Even elephants get a little snack-ish from time to time. Typically when an Asian elephant is feeling peckish they eat what's around them, grass, roots, leaves, maybe some fruit if they have access to it. But not every elephant is satisfied with what's easily accessible, they'd much rather have something tastier than a nice helping of grass.

Convenience store workers in a town located near a national park in central Thailand got a surprise visit by the self-appointed local snack inspector. An elephant, known to the town as Plai Biang Leck decided it was going to take a stroll to the local store to get something a little tastier than roots. Pretty sure he's heard about humans working hard to avoid discussing the elephant in the room so he decided to test his luck.

Elephant enters a grocery store in Thailand for snacks
byu/Flamactor inpics

It sounds like the start of a bad joke: "An elephant walks into a store...", except there's no cringy punchline. An elephant really did walk into a store in Thailand and surprisingly didn't knock everything over. He even used his trunk to do a little grocery shopping while the store clerks tried to shoo the giant creature out. You may be wondering how this real life Babar even managed to fit through the door of a convenience store, but it appears the store has a roll up wall, leaving the entire front of the store exposed to the outside world.

I wonder how long the elephant was planning this trip to the store? Obviously, he didn't have money to purchase his goodies but that didn't slow him down. He walked away with "nine bags of sweet rice crackers, a sandwich and bananas" according to the caption on the video. Do elephants have social media? If they do, I bet his followers are going to go wild on TikTusk over this exotic grocery haul. As for the tab the big eared fella racked up...? Well, elephants never forget so surely he'll be back to pay for his snacks (right after he figures out what money is).

Thai elephant breaks into local grocery store to steal rice crackers and a banana
byu/doughb0ii inDamnthatsinteresting

People couldn't get enough of the elephant's shopping spree that only ended when the store clerks forced him to leave. Of course, the responses were full of punny jokes people couldn't resist, with one being an amusing exchange, "Let's ignore it..." one person writes, "Ignore what?" someone replies, "The elephant in the room." To this, another person keeps the joke going with, "What elephant?" And just when you thought the banter was over, someone calls it all out saying, "I'm getting tired of these people who only want to talk about imaginary elephants all the time. EDS sufferers - Elephant Derangement Syndrome."

One person imagines the elephant's side of the conversation: "'Um, hello? Good morning? I’m looking for Extra Cheesy Cheez-Its…am I in the wrong aisle?'"

elephant; Thailand; elephant goes shopping; elephant in store; elephant in the room; funny storiesElephant enjoying a sandwich picnic in the wild.Photo credit: Canva

This person has a legitimate concern, saying, "Imagine covering a shift for someone and an elephant comes in the store that morning." How would one explain that without sounding like you've completely rounded the bend? It's definitely a situation where you'd need photo evidence for even the smallest shred of credibility.

One person claims to be the elephant's attorney, joking, "I’m the elephants lawyer: you’re all reminded that these statements are merely accusations and my client is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law."

"Wait until you see next door, they've got a bull in a China shop," someone else jokes. And the commenters keep the puns rolling. One quips, "Well you know how to stop an elephant from charging ....TAKE AWAY HIS CREDIT CARD" while another says, "He hates paying for grocery bags at the register, he brings his own trunk."


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Planet

Heartbroken weatherman stops mid-report to explain on live TV why he 'can't' forecast anymore

"We may be flying blind" from now on.

NBC6 & Canva Photos

John Morales stopped his report to educate viewers on what budget cuts really mean.

I hardly ever watch the news on television, especially not for the weather. It's just so much easier to pick up my phone and check Google or The Weather Channel. I just want to know how warm it's going to be or how likely it is to rain. These days, I can find that out in about 10 seconds and go about my day.

But when there's potential danger—hurricanes, storms that might knock out the power of topple over trees, tornado warnings, or threats of ice and snow—my trusty local meteorologist or weatherman is always there. All of that said, I've never once considered that I might not be able to get my weather forecast from either source, at least not accurately. It's 2025—our weather modeling should be better than ever, state of the art, right?

John Morales, a meteorologist and hurricane specialist with NBC6 in South Florida, was reporting on an upcoming storm when he suddenly shifted gears, right in the middle of the broadcast.

weatherman, weather, meteorologist, news, tv news, news anchor, viral videos, trump, doge, governmentWithout good data, we can't accurately predict the paths of hurricanes. Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Morales explains that in his 34 years of presenting the weather, he's always been able to confidently tell his viewers when a hurricane might hit, or when it might turn away. He's always been able to stand behind his data, modeling, and forecast in order to help protect the people of South Florida.

"I am here to tell you that I am not sure I can do that this year."

Why? "Because of the cuts, the gutting, the sledgehammer attack on science in general."

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Babbel’s Biggest Sale of the Year: Get 67% off. Lifetime Subscriptions For $199

Morales then pulled up a graphic instead of his usual weather map. It laid out some stark realities about severe understaffing of the National Weather Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Between brutal layoffs, employees accepting the recent DOGE buyout, and straight-up resignations, the agencies responsible for collecting weather data have lost hundreds and hundreds of valuable experts.

He also explained that due to federal government budget cuts, there's been a sizeable decrease in weather balloon launches across the country. Weather balloons are instruments that take crucial measurements of the upper atmosphere and send data that helps with forecasting. With less data available, and lower quality data, Morales say that "the quality of forecasts is becoming degraded."

That's a pretty scary thought, especially in a place like South Florida. What do you do when your local meteorologist can't predict what a powerful hurricane will do next?

"This is a multi-generational impact on science in this country," Morales warns.

Watch his passionate plea here:

Almost nine million people viewed the powerful clip on X. It was reshared over 26,000 times. Morales' message is definitely getting the attention it deserves.

It's not just the National Weather Service that's bleeding. In the name of efficiency, The White House has slashed budgets at the CDC, the National Institutes of Health, and more. Trimming the federal budget sounds well and good until you realize that we won't be making any major cancer breakthroughs any time soon without funding the research. And we won't be able to protect people from hurricanes and tornadoes without complete weather data.

(And yes, even the Weather app on your iPhone needs a database to pull from.)

Meanwhile, we're spending $1 trillion—yes, trillion— per year on our military. This is the anti-science, anti-expert sentiment Morales is talking about. It's been building for years and is just now coming to a head in the worst way.

We still need meteorologists and weather experts like Morales. We still need scientists.

weatherman, weather, meteorologist, news, tv news, news anchor, viral videos, trump, doge, governmentWe still need human scientists and experts that can compile and read maps like this one. Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash

ChatGPT can pull weather data from Google and tell you if there's going to be a thunderstorm, but can it tell you when the data behind that forecast is incomplete or unreliable? That's the reality we're facing right now, and we might not know the forecast isn't reliable until it's too late in some cases.

TV weathermen who live in our communities and can put crucial context behind the weather and help keep us safe still matter. Not only that, but they are ambassadors for science, and they still have a big platform in many communities around the country. Morales is making sure he makes the most of his.

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Pop Culture

Adam Scott makes an appearance in his teen daughter's TikTok, and the jokes run wild

“Mark S is your dad?”

Fandom.com/@francescascottspamtiktok/TikTok

A still Adam Scott playing Mark S from Severance

You might expect Adam Scott to make an appearance on television, but on a teen girl’s TikTok? Not so much.

But lo and behold, Scott’s daughter, Frankie Scott, recently featured him in one of her videos (a great honor that Gen Z bestows only to the worthiest of parents) and it had fans understandably shook.

The clip, captioned “Me informing my dad about my weekend plans,” starts off with Frankie lip syncing to audio from Keeping Up With the Kardashians, saying, “I have a busy week.” Then, BOOM, that camera cuts to Adam, mouthing “Do you?” followed by a conversation about Vegas and spray tans.

@francescascottspamtiktok♬ original sound - KB AND KARLA

It’s a cute clip regardless, but the unexpected reveal of Scott was the real kicker. That, and the grade-A Parks & Rec and Severance comments it inspired.

“Ur dad is so good at this he should be an actor.”

“It’s hard for him to relate because he doesn't know what he does at work.”

“So this is what his outie does”

Ruptura 3 GIFfrom Ruptura 3 GIFs

"The weekend is mysterious and important.”

“Mark S is your dad?”

WHAT THE HELLY”

Severance Mark GIFfrom Severance GIFs

“Wait, your dad is the 18 year old mayor who created Ice Town?”

“How’s his claymation project going?”

Please tell me your mom is Leslie Knope.”

adam scott, parks and rec, severance, frankie scott, adam scott age, adam scott kidsBen Wyatt, from Parks & Recmedia0.giphy.com

Also, special shoutout to the person who wrote “do you have the plug on Catalina Wine Mixer tix?” in reference to his role in Step Brothers.

But by and large, the thing on everyone’s mind was the truly shocking realization that Adam Scott is, in fact, 52, with a teenage daughter. Not perpetually in his mid thirties.

"It appears that I’ve severely underestimated Adam Scott’s age.”

“Adam Scott is old enough to have a baddie daughter what?”

“This was me finding out he’s 52 omg he hasn’t aged since parks and rec.”

“Adam Scott has been 35 to me for the last 20 years. Paul Rudd level aging.”

Seriously, did he and Rob Lowe go in on some Death Becomes Her-type potion while working together on Parks and Rec? It’s the only explanation for their faces never changing.

But get ready to be even more blown away. Frankie, 16, is actually Scott’s youngest kid. Scott and his wife Naomi also have an 18-year-old son named Graham.

What comes as no surprise is that Scott passed down his sense of humor. While appearing on an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2023, the Party Down alum shared how Frankie collected "unflattering" screenshots of him from their FaceTime calls, and used them all to create an, ahem, creative gift.

@fallontonight #AdamScott’s daughter collects unflattering FaceTime screenshots of him. 🤣 #FallonTonight ♬ original sound - FallonTonight

"'When you're doing FaceTime, it's not like you're on a fancy zoom, and you have a ring light, and you, like, primp yourself," he told Fallon. "You're, like, getting ready for bed or eating or whatever. It's family time. Every single time I see that flash on the screen, it's just like, Jesus, really? And so this past year, they made a calendar of all of those photos."

Scott might never age, but thanks to his kids, he’ll also always stay humble.

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Gen Xers and Boomers discuss the eye-opening aging warning signs no one warned them about

"That eventually you will end up in that CVS aisle you always skipped because it didn’t pertain to you."

Image via Canva

Gen X and Boomers share unexpected signs of aging.

No one can speak on the truths about aging quite like Boomers (those born 1946 to 1964) or Gen X (those born 1965 to 1980). With years of life under their belt, they possess rare wisdom and insight into what it's like to really get old.

Over on Reddit, user @Knightress04 posed the following question to Boomers and Gen Xers on the hilariously named /AskOldPeople channel: "What’s something about aging that no one warned you about, but you wish they had?"

The responses did not hold back. Gen Xers and Boomers opened up about their first-hand experiences and let their opinions flow. These are the best responses to the warning signs about aging from Gen Xers and Boomers, including the good, the bad, and the ugly:

"The slow loss of everything, your abilities, your health, your friends, relatives, places you loved, etc. Just the eroding away of everything." —@ BreadfruitOk6160

"All the loss you endure." —@southerndude42

"I wish they had warned me that it's OKAY 'not to do anything' when you retire. My husband and I have been retired about two years now, and it's been wonderful. But we're not jetting around the world. We are just relaxing, enjoying being home. And that's okay, it doesn't mean we have a worse life now." —@slenderella148

"The invisibility." —@TimeSurround5715

aging, aches, pains, getting old, painhurting season 3 GIFGiphy

"Aches and pains don’t go away in a day. Sometimes it takes a week." —@OscarTravolta

"Start appreciating the smallest things… like a quiet morning, or when a friend texts u a meme outta nowhere. those tiny moments hit diff now." —@quietswoon

"It’s so much harder to gain muscle once you age." —@GroundAndSound

"That eventually you will end up in that CVS aisle you always skipped because it didn’t pertain to you." —@IntentionAromatic523

time flies, time fly, flying by, time passing, time passAlarm Clock Time GIFGiphy

"How fast time goes by. I was 21 yesterday. Now I'm 69. Time went by way to quickly." —@Dry-Cause2061

"That I would feel this great. And content. And so much more in love with my SO, decade after decade. That there would be as much joy in walking fast laps as there was in running full court basketball. That for all the travail I've had a wonderful life. That it would become so easy to understand Robinson Jeffers:"

Still the mind smiles at its own rebellions,
Knowing all the while that civilization and the other evils
That make humanity ridiculous, remain
Beautiful in the whole fabric, excesses that balance each other
Like the paired wings of a flying bird."

—@Own-Animator-7526

"All the napping! I've never needed so many naps..." —@Familiar_Collar_78

nap, napping, naps, take a nap, naptimeThe Blacklist Sleep GIF by NBCGiphy

"Menopause. I knew so little about it beyond hot flashes, but what absolutely NOBODY told me was: after 40+ years of mostly painful, heavy periods, it is a GLORIOUS feeling not to have a period anymore. 🙌 I especially love the freedom of being able to travel without having to calculate whether I’d need to pack extra products and underwear. (Thank God my agony came pretty much like clockwork every 28 days. 🙄)." —@Technical-Bit-4801

"Death, there are fewer & fewer people that know who you really are & where you came from. I've these parts of my life I shared with friends, & they're dead now. It's a strange feeling, when I'm gone it'll be like those moments never happened. The loss of shared experiences, I guess. It's nothing terribly important, or even very impactful, it's just slightly sad." —@Inside_Ad_7162

"How precious time will feel. Every moment matters to me now and I have no patience for squandering it. I consider myself very laid back but if there is anything that will trigger me, it's someone wasting my time. Feels like they're stealing my most precious resource." —@PicoRascar

nose hair, nose hair, hair in nose, waxing hair, nosehairsWaxing Hair Removal GIFGiphy

"As a male. The crazy ear and nose hairs that grow." —@Mikethemechanic00

"Late sixties. ....something about aging no one warned about? sounds like it's gotta be something bad. I wasn't warned about how independent, footloose and fancy free I'd feel once all work and family commitments and obligations were fulfilled. And I can be cantankerous whenever I wanna be. Most folks get warned about long term health consequences but it is difficult to overcome the insidious long-term ill-health consequences of commercial, corporate, processed, fast food pressures and convenience. way too much is spent on consequences of poor health and not enough on prevention and education --- imho." —@Buzzhoops

"The sensitivity. I have always been a very sensitive person who feels things deeply. But I'm also GenX so calloused, but lord a mercy if middle-age hasn't turned me into a crybaby. I swear I never used to cry so much." —@earthgarden

cry, sensitive, feelings, emotional, tearsSad Cry GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy

"That regularly putting money into savings or a retirement account is as important as brushing your teeth every day." —@InternalAcrobatic216

"When you hear a song or band from your youth that you absolutely hated because they were so cheesy and god-awful bad, but now when you hear it.. it brings back smiles and memories…. that’s the cleansing power of Nostalgia!" —@Hillman314

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