Back from the Hole

Grief has paralyzed us but now our year since is over and their spirit has risen within us, their names said out loud: Patsy, Nellie, Cindy, Alec and Aaron.  Our daughters, sisters, brothers, sons, mothers, aunts and friends, celebrated for the what they did and said but mostly, for how much they touched all of us, how much love and respect we shared.  Our pre-Amerikkkan nations will never be the same and this year has proved that grief cannot be measured, only given a framework, such as we have, to let it work itself out within and without, alone and with all, as we did together this past weekend in Lapwai.  May what they gave us, what they put into us as they left, stay with us in the years ahead so our families stay together in grief or joy, forever.