OSEU Four: Delores Taken Alive– Appreciating Life and Family

Appreciating Life & Family - Delores Taken Alive - OSEU 4 So we have real good life experiences. Growing up and disciplining us, we never knew what spanking was. We never knew what hitting was, nor yelling or screaming or any of that, you know, ways that, you know, make you feel bad. They are always so kind and loving. And after we have, you know, before my sister died, I always talk about our way of life, the upbringing. And we said, you know, did you ever remember being spanked or, you know, things that I mentioned? No. How about you? So I said, no. I don't ever remember. So that's how, you know, we, that's how we grew up. And I always think about, you know, our parents. How are they so patient? And they're so loving that, you know, we have not known any violent ways in our home. And we always, there's always communication. There's always togetherness because we grew up in a one-room log house. So that's how I think we really appreciate what life is all about. And we never take things for granted. We're always appreciative, always work. There's always work that needs to be done. So, of course, we, you know, sometimes we play with our parents too, like baseball in wintertime. We slide down and we always learn how to ice skate and push each other around down the creek, you know. We live by a creek, so we play on the ice in the creek in the wintertime. And then our mother will be calling us, it's getting dark, now come home. So that's our way of life, and I am so happy. And my brother, when he was alive, used to come to my house after I moved to McLaughlin when my husband died. And we were so together in talking in our language, talking about our way of life. We reminisce and how we laugh about what we grew up with, like the time my father and my mother were coming back in a hay rack full of hay, and they tipped over. We talked about stuff like that, and our mother was getting up from all that hay full of hay. I remember stuff like that, and we used to visit a lot, but we never spoke English. We always talked in Lakota. So when my brother comes, that's the only time I would. He lived about a block away from me, so we share a lot, and I always cook breakfast and we eat together. How we grew up, you know, fried potatoes, oatmeal, and skillet bread, we call it kabubu bread, and coffee. If I see him walking towards my house, I put coffee on right away. So that's how we were still very close. And after my sister moved into town, I used to go visit her. She used to say, I put coffee on. Come on over. Family feud is on now. And then my brother always says, come on over. We're going to make coffee. NBA is on now. So, you know, we always watched. That's how we were so together, even though we were old, you know, in our age. So my brother, we lost our brother first, and then my sister. And so I'm the only one that's living yet. So I always like to, like what you have in there, on that last question, how do you deal with death? I was thinking about that. You know, I always pray to Creator, that's to give me more life, give me health, give me good health. I'm still needed. I can still help. You know, I want to live more, you know, like that, because I can help my people, my students. So I like to have a good life with a long, maybe a long life. So that's where I am, and that's where I have come from. That's how I have grown into where I am now.