How come you moved back?
Are you leaving again?
I can't wait to leave.
I have to leave here, there is nothing for me here.
If I stay here I will die early.
I hate it here, why did you come back?
I hear that all the time. And I try to explain why I came back to the reservation. I didn't come back to try and make a change but if ever I do that would be nice. I didn't come back to tak about living off the rez, because even though it was fun, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I came home for one simple reason and it took my 8 year old son to help me find the right way to explain why I came home. Here was our conversation the other day.
My son Stephon told me "Mom the next time we move..." and I cut him off "We ain't moving no more baby."
He looked at me confused, "What? Why? How long we staying here?"
I'm home." I told him.
"But why Pine Ridge?" he asked me.
"Because this is where I am from, I was born here."
"But I was born in Minnesota." he says.
"But this is where your people are from." I told him.
"Which people?" he asks
"Your relatives, your ancestors...this is where you come from."
"What are ancestors?"
"They are the people that lived here long before either of us were born."
"So they always lived in Pine Ridge?" he asked.
"Um, no they traveled around and followed the buffalo for food." I told him
"So why do I have to stay here now?" he asked
"Because I came home, there's no place else I would rather be right now."
"So when I grow up, if I move away, will you always be here?"
"Yes."
"So if I miss you, can I always come home?" he looks at me smiling like he is finally getting it.
"Exactly." I tell him, smile and continue beading.
I am home. I came home for them. And I will always be here.
*pic i took last summer of some chokecherries outside my grandma's house.
