I'm often reminded that when I was younger, I was quite the pain in theeee bottom! My older brother frequently reminds me that I cried everyday, needed my socks put on just perfect so they didn't "poke" my feet and was very particular about my hair. The other day, I went to my moms house and she said to me.. "You would have never let bumps like that in your hair fly at the age" referring to how I had prepared my 3 year old daughters hair. The funny part about those stories is..you totally get what you give! My daughter protests when her socks are not perfectly straight and that very day my mom mentioned the bumps in her hair, she had a fit about the way I was doing it so I just through it up in a pony tail with no extra TLC. They do say the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, and I guess it's safe to say, even with all our quirks.. I really hope my children grow up to be like there good old mom and dad. That being said, it challenges me to be more patient and kind with my actions and words.
Noah celebrated his 1/2 birthday at school the other week. Who knew, but it was a big celebration including a hand made hat. He reminded me that he is 5 1/2 and that he is getting bigger everyday. Noah is doing really excellent in school. I'm glad that he went to kindergarden this year, his teachers were right. He was up for the challenge :). I've been trying to encourage Noah to be forgiving and understanding. I think it's a bit of a hard concept when your only 5 1/2 :) Often times he will say... Thats not fair!!! Sometimes life doesn't seem fair, but its given us some good opportunities to explain that we don't get to be the decider of the way life plays out. Just this morning when I was getting Noah ready for school I told him that today he could have school lunch because I didn't quite have time to put together his home lunch. Seriously, this kid has only eaten the school lunch MAYBE 10 times this whole school year. He says to me, "uhhhh, well that is not fair!". I looked at him with my signature MOM look (the one that says -- child, this conversation is not going to happen). To which he replied "What?? All fall short of the glory of God, ok mom!?!". Stunned at Noah pulling the Sparks verse card on me, especially because of the attitude he through in with it I just said "Noah!?" Finally he looked down at the floor like the best of boys would and said "ok... I can eat school lunch just for today". I was explaining to him a couple of weeks ago how we don't want to live a life thats fair and how Jesus died for our sins so we did not have to. It kind of coupled with his AWANA review verse that he was working on and he had some good thought provoking questions. Isn't it funny that I could be training myself on the same lessons I'm trying to get my 5 year old to understand?? A week ago Sunday, my aunt passed away. She was one of my Dad's sisters, living on the same Indian reservation they grew up on. When I learned of the news I thought.. Really? That just doesn't seem fair that my cousins would have to mourn the loss over the unepected death of their mother. Interesting how that works. It was a news flash for me this morning when Noah seemed to be taking in the lesson better than I have been coping for a week now...
My aunt Carol... had that same flowy black hair as my Dad. Hers was straight as a whip and I can remember it at times getting very long. She came to visit us in MN about 10 years ago. My dad was still alive. We had a girls day and went shopping in Sioux Falls. I remember my aunts hair being sooooo looong. We were walking in the mall and she said, I think it's time to donate this hair to someone else and start over. Just like that, with no attachment, she went in and got 14 inches cut off her hair to donate. She talked about how she had hoped it would go to a little girl that needed it. My most fond memories of my aunt were when I was pretty little. We lived in a VERY small town in North Dakota. I think the population was maybe 300ish?? Maybe not even, sorry Hatton-ites, my memory slips me. We moved to Hatton when I was just a tiny baby. We moved into my uncle Wayne and Aunt Carols house. They had two kids, and still welcomed us in. My parents were trying to get a good start at life and had found a good job at a potato plant nearby. We lived there, maybe a year? I only know from the stories that were told of this time. So I lived there the first year of my life, and then spent about the next 10 begging to go back to Auntie Carols house. I remember she would braid my hair, just right. She had so much tolerance for my little annoying perfections I had. We would go for walks and play at the park. She would take me to the Farmers Den and we would have coffee and pop. Her house was just a short way from the Dairy Bar, where we would get ice cream cones dipped in peanuts. I remember my cousin Nicole was just old enough to think I was too young to hang around with her. She had a similar feeling about me as I did about my sister (and she is 5 years younger than me). However, my aunt Carol always hung onto a big tote of Barbies and accessories for me to play with. Often, she would convince Nicole to play with me. I was spoiled, I was loved. My cousin Uriah would "let" me play Nintendo with him. Mario was the best game. He was player 1, I was player 2.. :) I enjoyed it, even though being player 2 when player 1 is a master at the game means you never get to play. You see, until player 1 loses a mario life, player 2 does not get to play. I don't even know if I realized it, I was just there -a part of there family, playing. Cousins are an important part of me, and Uriah and Nicole were like an extra set of older siblings for me. The hardest part of my aunts funeral was seeing the hurt in there eyes and watching them wipe their tears. What I kick myself about is that I didn't even say anything. During the visitation there was a moment where anyone could have stood up and shared whatever they like about Carol. I wish, for my cousins sake I would have stood up and talked about some of those times. I wish I would have mentioned her laugh... it was truly one of a kind.
Spending some time with my cousins and seeing my aunts and uncles reminded me a lot of my Dad. All in good ways. My dad was a jokester, so of course there are some wild jokes that my dad told and my cousins remember to this day. The best one is when my mom was expecting her 4th child and they found out it was a boy. He would tell everyone that he was going to name him Oscar Seymour Lonewolf Lenoir. They would all just laugh because it was clear that he was just razzing my mom. He never wavered from the Oscar talk, but my brother, for his own sake was named Nicholas Lee :). I'm thankful that they have some good memories about Dad that they could share. After he passed there was a little bit of uncertainty in my mind. I was so young when we moved to MN, would they even think of me as a Lenoir?? There was not a shadow of doubt, my ND family loves me. I haven't been hugged so hard by so many people in all my life. I belonged. I still belong. I told my husband that I had to leave Belcourt before I developed a complex. I don't think I have ever been told how beautiful I have grown to be by so many people in my life. I just felt like a million bucks. It reminded me how important it is to love people and let them know they are loved.
I came back home and as expected, Miles was the happiest to see me :) The other two were happy we were home too, Kendra most excited to see her Dad and Noah half way indifferent. Miles gave me his big hugs and flashed his beautiful smile. I can see my relatives in my kids. They belong just as much as I belong. Were different, ears and all-- but I think that is just something I have to get over. It doesn't make us not belong to our families or unacceptable. I can't wait til we make a visit to ND that is for joy and family and not just sorrow with our family. It was a long ride, about 10 hours one way, but sooo worth it to be there for my cousins. The best phrase that sticks in my mind from this past week is that the God in the good times, is the same God in the bad times.
I put together a little slideshow video of my little rugrats. Its a little background and history of my family... check it out here :http://youtu.be/eWsxHXCL0wU
No comments:
Post a Comment