This day is an adventure.
I woke up and pulled apart all of my warm sleeping apparatuses. no time to run to the nearest porter potty, so i pissed behind the one spray-painted, do not use. it must have been bad....
After such great relief, I look up and see the hills of beauty. behind the barbed fenceline i gaze into the mornig sun and say a prayer of gratitude.
well, it was time to find a mechanic and time to head into camp.
we met Larunce, a native looking mexican mixed man. he said we could find a ride. and we met Marla Eagle. she had a pleasant voice. good laughing spirit to her. Harry longbow drove in to our campsite. we jumped in. brought our guitars and drum and left our van to rest. it was like leaving all my worries behind - even thought that van was my ticket home to Michigan. we went into camp, and driving up to the row of flags.
WOW, what a beautiful site!!
I was excited to see the raised flags. there must be 100s of them. depicting flags from tribes and Native Nations from around the States and the World. We were introduced as visitors and was dropped off at the parking spot. Leaving our things behind, we walked up to the main circle to see a fire burning, it seems to be a sacred fire, and a man on the mic speaking about the camp, the people, events, I really didn't pay attention to what he was saying. so may people were there. The donations, the food, the coffee cans! The trucks of wood and water driving around. there was work to be done.
I'm walking around, getting grip on what to do, Thinking in my head "why am i here?" I approach the large green army tent. I swing back the door flap to see why there are so many people running in and out of this tent. Hey! I turn to my right, Would you like to serve?" Hi, Yes, what can i do?" She hands me a spoon, I chuckle inside as floods of memories of spooning jokes and the idea of mom's second spanking paddle.
I instantly knew what she wanted me to do. I walked behind the table and see the many people lined up, waiting. no one is grabbing plates, they are just waiting. One plate comes through the food line and I serve a tiny portion. "spirit plate ready! My heart sank in love and appreciation. "a spirit plate! I love it!" - Back home from where i left, I would send a piece of my food to the compost piles and thank God for the fruit of the earth so that I may be fruit for the earth.
The position of serving ourselves exercises the greed of getting and wanting, it's mine and i'm taking it. A flow of emotions came over me as the announcer said Elders and Children first. I began to tear up. I was juggling two dishes, One of gravy and the other buffalo meat. I had so much fun on this day seeing all the faces and the people, the light workers and the natives. It's a good day to serve.
We still had a lot of donations around the camp, there is a huge piles of clothes!
After serving all the people, Jesse And I walked over to the pile of clothes, we have so much to donate, how would we get it here!? People were picking, kids were playing, volunteers were sorting and the sun was shinning. Thank You Lolli for being the young woman in charge of the organizing and distribution of all these warm clothes.
It was night and a little awkward not knowing anything, what to do, who to speak to, how to present myself. Pft, forget that. This kid behind me wanted a siggaret so I gave offered him one. His name is Drea. He is from standing rock. We got to talking and then come to find out, He was staying on camp too! He invited us over to his tent to chat and talk about what life is like here. Come to find out, He is an Aquarius too! the THREE of us in a tent, laughing and sharing, I just felt compelled to give him my Coral and sodalite necklace. Here brother, this is for you. He rapped it around his hand and said here. We held hands and he said a quick prayer and we shared gratitude. "thanks brother." - at that moment, I realized this place - this holy place - everything is intended to be sacred.
later that evening, we thought just to head up to the security gate and see who these people are and if we were able to walk back to our camp site. "it's only 3/4 mile up the road. the guy mentioned.
We got to talking and he exclaims - "were you two the one's looking for the youth council? "it's over there! - we exclaim" the three guards and Jesse and I just laugh. "Well, what do you say about walking!? Jesse asks,
"I'm not wearing my heals so lets book it!"
The sky was soo beautiful that night. Crystal clear view toward the stars.