Sunday, July 5, 2009

More knitting and Shinali

Hey, hows the day after Fourth of July? The grandparents and my little family had a great time together and the fireworks here in Kayenta was wonderful. We had a grilling of delicious short ribs and hot dogs, "yum" the kids and I hung out by the hot coals and roasted marshmallows, it was absolutely picturesque. It was what I wanted between the kids and I the mother, that moment that they enjoyed the simple fun of roasting marshmallows.

The scene that I had seen was walking up to the kids while they were sitting on their lawn chairs just watching the clouds above at late sunset, looking and enjoy'n the breeze. Sitting by the hot coals waiting for me to arrive with the forks to put marshmallows on and start at the fun. What a time in life that I will never forget, at that moment I felt so blessed to be able to spend this time with the kids instead of working triple time at the coal mine.

That was what we did last night and then at about 10 pm we witnessed the big firework display in Kayenta, it was spectacular and eventful with the whole neighborhood just agast and cheering for joy. It ended up that it rained and did it rain, but that didn't stop them firing off the display and I was so happy that we sat by the front door and watched the fireworks. The kids really was not interested in the event but the grandparents and I did, we laughed and cheered along with the crowd. I loved it!

Today the grandparents headed on back to Durango, Colorado that is where home is for them. Mom and Dad live with my sister who is a year younger than me. I also have a li'l brother that lives there with his beautiful wife and daughter, they all missed our mom and dad. I felt so blessed that they stayed with us and I didn't want them to leave. I know that my kids are gonna want them back, especially the li'l girl, my daughter Haiden. She just loves them so much and when she plays she pretends to talk to her grandma or grandpa on the play phone, it's so cute! To say the least we are all worn out from being active and cooking all this week and eating all the time, I swear I gained at least 5 more pounds. I don't why that is when family are around you gain weight? I guess you cook better for family than yourselves, I know that my kids eat better than me they tell me what they want and at times I go ahead make what I have in my little brain for the night. Now I remember, I almost forgot that I mentioned something of my grandpa, as you noticed at the title that I said my shinali that is Navajo for my grandpa on my dads side.


Here goes on the subject of this amazing man I call my shinali or "nali" no one knows when he was born, he has no birth certificate. His name was Billy Yellow, he was a medicine man that knew of the many herbs of the earth that was around our area and used them. Very disciplined at renewing his body through sweat lodges and with teas that cleansed his body. He had regimens that he was faithful to, till the day of his passing.


I didn't know him like my cousins knew him, they have many fond memories of him and also of my grandmother, I regret not knowing them that way. Although I do enjoy listening to the stories that they tell me of him and how wise he was in all that he did, my dad told me of wisdom that came from my grandpa and we are a Christan family that believes in the Bible. He would say this is what grandpa use to tell me and this where the same thing says in the Bible also. I thought that was always encouraging to hear the teachings come from my dad from my "nali". My nali was a man that didn't speak english very much, he was more fluent in Navajo, that too I regret not knowing the language, we did have a language barrier between us and our nali's (grandma and grandpa). But we did have the love connection that I will always remember especially with my grandmother, she loved us regardless of the language barrier.


I remember one time my nali's the grandma and grandpa were heading out one morning from our home in Moab, UT and I was asleep in my room. I heard the commotion in the kitchen and I knew that they were heading out back home to Monument Valley, so I dosed off again. Grandma came into my room and sat beside me on the bed and I would say I was 18 or 19 yrs old at the time, she was gently brushing my hair with her fingers. So then I awoke to her talking in Navajo to me and she smiled at me in a loving kind way. I sat up from my sleep to hold on to her and told her that I loved her, I can still remember the way she smelled, I remember the gentleness of her hands, these things I will always keep in my heart. The smile that was so beautiful that you can not ever forget, I guess she told me that I needed to go back to sleep and she was on her way back home.

I would of given any thing to know and to communicate words to my nali's, they then headed on out back home. My grandpa on the other hand was not that way toward us, he had a sense of tough love attitude and I was a softy, I would sense that he was not happy with us. I mean I knew that he loved us, and I'm sure he wished for more Navajo for us and I don't blame my parents for that barrier, I'd rather kick myself not wanting to learn than to blame my parents, cause you know I was able to learn and I could'a learned.

My grandpa Billy was popular with the Japanese and the Germans, they would always photograph him and visit him in Douglas Mesa where he resided most of the time. Today you can see him on post cards and he is in videos that show his ceremonial practices, he is probably one of the last genuine medicine men of our time. I really don't think that there is the real thing on the reservation, maybe I'm wrong and maybe I'm just saying this because he was my grandfather. All I know is that when I talk to others that have a problem it seems that they have to put more money in the ceremony that they want to have done, then there was my nali not selfish to help others out and is sincere in what he is doing.

My nali was an avid builder of hogans, he took much pride and patience in his building work, that was a dying art that he took with him. There are marks of hogans that he had built, they are in Castle Valley, UT tucked away against the red rocks of Castle Valley. I haven't took the time to go back and see the hogan again, he created friendships with those that were interested in the healing herbs. I know that Billy left wonderful impressions on people that he met, in turn my family were invited to events of the ones that befriended my nali. I remember that we were invited to a wedding and it was something at a young age that I had never witnessed in my life. New Age people that practiced the Native American Indian ceremonial way, it was interesting to see these people imbrace the way of the Native American Indian People. They were just happy and peaceful in the ceremony, I have to admit that I was proud to be who I was even though I didn't practice the way. It made me look at my nali differnt that he was somebody, he did leave his mark on many and did so many things in his life. I'm happy that before he passed that he did live life to the fullest and enjoyed every minute of it.


My grandfather passed away September 15, 2003 with his kids and family beside him, his age was unknown at the time of his passing. I'm pretty sure he could had lived a bit longer in his life to see more of his great grand kids, maybe another 2-3 yrs more he had it in him. I know that he cherished life and appreciated it more than many at the time, he was faithful to pray daily and to do his singing to heart. All that he practiced and did was not for show but from the heart of who he was. Even though my dad raised us with Jesus being our Savior my dad loved his dad and taught us to respect him and his ways. My dad taught us respect others even though you don't understand them, just love them like Jesus loves us, because He loves those that don't believe or don't care for Him. I kept that understanding in my heart for my nali.



No comments:

Post a Comment