Another weekend gone by and all I did was work on our new house my mom is trying to build. We started building this house back in 2008 from the ground up without hiring any construction workers. Finally to this day it is so close to getting finish, we just need furniture and water put into the house. The only way the house was built up was with the help of our family members who knew something about building houses. They came together on certain weekends and pitched in to help so now with their help it has gotten this far. While I was working by their side, I really learned many things about building homes or anything about construction.

            This came to my notice when I was sitting on a paint bucket watching my uncle paint my room. While I was sitting there yawning and feeling tired from the day, I was wondering “ hmmm what makes my uncle want to this for us?” We do not even pay him and still he comes here every weekend to keep building the house. He is like the main one here that was really the builder of the house since ground up and he never evened complained about it. My other uncles all pitched in on building it up and some of them even pitched in on bringing in material. Even though some times were hard for us, our family was there to help us out and I am thankful they were here for us.

            Now as I work with them I realize that families are always there for you when you need their help. So treat your family with some respect and kindness because when you really need them, they will be their willingly to lend a hand. 

This weekend had some good days with it especially the weather not being so bad for Saturday and Sunday. For Saturday was my first time of the year attending a rodeo and actually did not go my way. That Saturday morning I felt so confident in myself, ready to go to the rodeo and try my best to win it. When we got there it was just another rodeo to me but it took forever( the whole day) waiting for my event. I was spending the whole time riding horses around, laughing and being calm acting like I had this event in the bag. Finally close to the end of the day my event was up and I went out there and BOOM! “Out of all things it happen to me on this day,” I thought in my head.

            Man it hurt so bad in the heart, all I thought was, “ I wish I could do it all over again.” I had just missed my steer and now I was feeling all bummed out. I was angry with myself as I left the arena plus I was thinking on what mistake I did that caused that to happen. Then later on I calmed down and knew that I had one more try to win it or either place in it. I kept my confidence up but after the second try I failed to handle the steer for my partner so another attempt was my fault once again. At the end of the day I was tired of the sun and mad at myself for all the mistakes I did that cost me a chance to place in the roping. For the beginning of the year I felt so great roping, that I placed in all the ones that I attended but today’s roping just brought me way down.

            Sunday came around, now it was time to go to church early in the morning and usually that makes me feel better. While I was sitting there listening to the preacher, it finally hit me. God did this to me for a reason and I thought of it as reality check. A time comes for people to lose at points and God gave me that opportunity. I felt that before I got to big headed that God gave me a reminder always to stay humble. After awhile I understood and thanked God that he gave me this check before I went overboard so it was alright with me to lose once in awhile.

Grandparents are always a nice thing to have as you grow up, some kids never have the chance to grow up with them but for me I am so glad to have them in my life up to this day. Ever since I was a little kid my maternal grandma and grandpa would always take care of me while both my parents went to work. Every day I would spend time with either one in different places like for instance I would help my grandma weave her rug or go with my grandpa to the horse corral. As I hung out with them more often they began to teach me a lesson, to never forget who I am and where I came from.

            Sometimes they would remind me but most times I would learn it on my own especially when I helped them out with stuff. I remember when I was small I would always sit there with my grandma and get in the way by trying to help her weave her rug but for some reason she would never get mad at me. To this day I think she wanted me to learn how to weave even though it was a lady thing but I did not care, as long as I kept a tradition going.  Every time my family butchers, my grandpa would always tell me how to take apart the meat, lucky enough I was listening so now I can take it apart myself like a true Navajo. Today, I always get flashbacks of how they stepped in to raise me and to help my struggling parents.

            Every time I go to my grandma’s house she always has to give me that speech. That speech were she tells me to not do something stupid that I will regret and give our family a bad reputation. So in my head I know I represent the Towering House Clan (One of the first original Navajo Clans) so my attitude changes to be a better person and do the best to my abilities for my family. When I communicate to them it is hard for me since they only understand Navajo, so this pushes me harder to learn more of my language and keep my language alive before it dies out. The last thing is my grandma tells me to come home after I go to college and make something of myself. Always telling me never to forget the place I was born and raised, keeps reminding me of this once small rez boy that grew up on the reservation.

Ever since I was a small boy, one thing that always kept running through my head is what my dad said to me. “ IF YOU WANT IT GO GET IT” he teaches me with his straight voice. These are the words that I live by in my life from the smallest things to the biggest obstacles in life. It was just a simple day at the horse corral and I felt so lazy that I was making my father do all the work for me and out of nowhere he lectured me. All I remember him saying that in life we want things, and it was only up to me to get it and not to rely on anybody else to do it for me. I knew it did not mean to steal if I wanted it but I looked at it in a way to fulfill my biggest dreams.

            After a few years went by I noticed that what ever I heard from my dad was helping me to get the things I wanted especially in roping. We were always a poor family that never could afford the luxury we wanted especially in the roping sport that we love. As I looked at a picture when I was small, I seen the poorest stuff we had like a beat up trailer and old horse supplies.  Then one day, my dad was talking to me about all the things I had won and how we worked so hard for this and how it had paid off. BOOM! It finally hit me at that moment, when all these years I wanted all these fancy horse supplies and all I had to do was get it. Through all the practicing I did, I earned all my prizes by winning and did not have to pay thousands of dollars for it like other people did. Now I relate it to other sports or activities I join so now the harder I work the better my results are going to be.

            Through the little things in life, I learn to not be lazy by getting my own stuff and doing my own work. Then remembering my father’s words it helped me to go further in my education and work harder for the job that I want to go into. As I continue with my life I remind myself to try not to rely on others and that whatever I want is for me so I have to go and get it for myself.

           

Every week I learn new lessons from my mistakes on a regular day basis. This week I learned a valuable lesson of not being lazy and always expect the unexpected through the loss of my cow. It all started when the sun set and the cows left the horse corral towards the road. I left to my grandparents house while I was driving on the road I notice some of our cattle getting closer to the road. I was to tired to say anything about it so I just kept on driving thinking there going to past the road and walk into the mountain. On the way home I forgot about it so I just drove home thinking about relaxing and watching television. As I was home just sitting on the couch, watching television, my auntie came over to tell us the bad news. “I think one of your cows got hit,” the words that struck me.

            It was stuck in my head, should of just chased the cows back in, while we drove up to the truck that hit the cow. As we got closer I got to see which cow it was that died. It was mine! It had to be mine, it sure got into my head. The truck’s nose was destroyed by the cow and somehow the cow’s body flipped over the top of the truck and landed in the bed of the truck. Glad to say that the driver was never injured. In the middle of the night, we had to talk to the police and drag the dead cow off the road.

            Through all the events that happened, it taught me a couple of things to live by. First was never to be lazy at all because when you lay back, something always has to come along and punish you or at least test you. Only if I took action when I seen the cows go towards the road, I would not have to drag the body off the road and by now still have my cow.  Then you have to be ready for the unexpected, always watch out because something may happen at anytime. I was just sitting back watching television and all of a sudden, I find out that my cow got hit and now I have to do extra work in the middle of the night. Last of all be responsible for what you own, especially your pets and take care of it well. Even though it was cold and starting to snow, I should have been responsible to chase our cattle somewhere else than the roadway. Throughout the week I learned many lessons off of one mistake and now I have to learn from it. 

                Another week has gone by and now track season has started so it is time to get back in shape for me. The hardest part of running is when you first start because your so out of shape that it burns your muscles and throat. Running out in the open teaches me to become physically and mentally tough. That is the thing I love about running but when I stop running for a few weeks, I have to start over again. So for the past week I have been running in the cold weather and feeling the pain of not being physically prepared. 

            Every time I run in the sand I could really feel my thighs burn so bad but somehow someway I train myself to keep pushing it. I have those times when I am down or just to lazy to run that it takes so much out of me to get up and run but I do it. The course I run gets difficult as it gets farther especially at the end when I have to hustle to the top of a mountain. When I get to the top it is the greatest feeling of the day especially when I feel that cool air and look down upon the land. As time goes on and I keep running, I start to get back in shape and become physically tough once again.

            In my eyes, it seems that running can be similar to life when you go through the running phases.  Through life you are revealed to many pains that may hurt you especially in the beginning just like running. The only way to keep going and move on in life is to forget about the pain by becoming mentally strong and to encourage yourself to throw pain aside. So as you move on in life, while it throws pain at you just keep going because at some point it is going to be nothing to you. Close to the end your going to finally finish at the top if you keep avoiding the pain. 

           

This week for me was more of a worrying weekend with all the worries on our horses. Have you ever seen a person drunk? Or how crazy they get when there out of their mind? That’s the feeling my family have been having for our horses. Yes, somehow or someway horses seem to get drunk without the need of alcohol. The substance that seems to get them foolish is a plant that has dark green leaves and purple circular cottons in the middle; the Navajo people call it na’adii (na-a-di). It affects all kinds of animals not just horses. For the week, our horses got into the plant, so they were our main priority.
Sometimes the actions of others help teach us lessons and never to do it at all. The week was dealing with building more corrals to keep them contained from doing more stupid stuff. When you look at the horses that graze out in the pasture, you can tell if there drunk by their actions: they spook so easily, the friendliest horses are now scared of you and they don’t walk straight. The thing we were scared of was if the horses spooked they would run into something, cutting themselves open. Then they could walk into anything like trees were they could go into the branches, killing themselves. Just watching the horses go all crazy and stagger around, reminded me of all the drunks in town that get effected by alcohol.
In my head all I thought about alcohol is, “Dang this can really mess you up or at least make you act dumb in front of people.” The plant that horses eat usually grows out in the winter where all the grasses are dead making the only option for horses to eat is the deadly plant. Similar in life when alcohol persuades you in when there is no other option or at least at your vulnerable points. When looking at the horses they remind me of people when alcohol brings them at their lowest point. Even sometimes leading them into the wrong direction by killing the person. To this point it scares me and makes me realize how alcohol plays a similar role to the plants by destroying lives. Well that’s how my week went with all these worries so never try alcohol.