We woke up at 5 a.m. after we had breakfast, we gathered up at the Hogan.
We had a Kinaaldá ceremony for my daughter. It is Navajo’s traditional ceremony for celebrating female pubertal coming-of-age. My daughter dressed up in Navajo traditional outfit. My dad-in-law was the medicine man.
We made a natural soap with yucca and washed her hair. Then we tied her hair in a Navajo’s traditional way of bundle.
The ceremony started at 8 a.m. and ended after noon. After we had lunch, we continued the ceremony. We cooked the corn cake. The cake preparation was done after 2 p.m. For the remainder of the afternoon, we visited my husband’s cousin and went to town for grocery shopping. During that time, my dad-in-law had two patients visited him. He had prayers for them.
In the night around 7 p.m., we built a fire again and gathered up. We were all tired.
Around 9 p.m., we called it a night. My family and I went back to the trailer house, and my parents-in-law went back to their house after us. Then, all of a sudden we heard a violent knocking sound of the window. It was my mother-in-law. She shouted us my dad-in-law fell down and hit his head on the ground in front of the entrance door.
We quickly went to him. My husband and my mom-in-law carried him into the house and laid him on the couch. My dad-in-law still had conscious and remembered who he was and about us.
It was shocking to me. I have known him for 22 years. When I met him for the first time, he was 46 years old; still young and strong. Now he turned to be 68 years old getting old and weak. Watching him fell down on the floor reminded me of my late mom. I could not hold my tears back. My mom-in-law started crying too. She said she recently feels anxious of them living alone. They both feel uneasy of their getting old and weak. I felt strongly my parents-in-laws desire. They want us to move in to Navajoland and live close to them.
Everything happens for reasons. Maybe this incident happened to have us seriously think about moving back to Navajoland soon; sooner than we think.
three wisdom 