Ponemah Labor Day Brave

The phone rang at 6am about a week ago. Fearing bad news at that hour, I dragged myself out of bed, and mumbled "Hello?" It was my long lost sister-in-law calling from Minnesota! After I realized who was calling, she exclaimed, "I finally found you!" She had moved and we lost touch with her a couple years ago, so I plastered our names all over the internet to help her find us. (In the end, she found our phone number on a slip of paper at her home.)

We caught up with each other and I found out she now has a cell phone, so I gave her Frank's cell phone number. I think she was surprised that her Deaf brother would have a cell phone, but they have been texting each other ever since.

This morning, Frank told me to go to You Tube to see one of our nephews dance. He is the young man in the red and green outfit, with the white sash across his chest. He was honored with the title "Brave" at the Ponemah 2008 Labor Day Pow Wow.
I asked Frank what it means to be named "Brave." He has no idea, but thinks it's some kind of award for being the best dancer within a class. Since Frank grew up as the only Deaf kid on the Rez (Reservation), he missed out on a lot of information that parents either explain to their kids or things that kids learn by overhearing. What he knows is just what he has visually observed, without a verbal explanation. There are a lot of things he just didn't learn, but nevertheless, we're still so proud of our Brave.

(Thank you to LisaMoose2007 for uploading this video.)

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