Oh my gosh. Today was a good day.
My day started out as a typical Thursday. Well, as typical as a Thursday can be since I've moved out to the Rosebud Reservation. I woke up, went through my morning routine, and got to work a little after 8am.
After I got to work, I ended up waiting around for a while because I wasn't able to drive one of the trucks anymore and all of the other crews were already using the trucks to go out to their sites. Between Nixon and I, we decided that I should wait for one of the youth workers to show up, then take my own car with a gas voucher and go out to the shed site. Sounded reasonable, but it turned out that Marky had a better idea.
He told me I should ride with him out to the deck site, then switch cars and he and Lowen would drop me off at the shed site. I jumped on that opportunity, because it had been way too long since I had been able to hang out with some of those guys.
On the way over, Marky and I had a pretty good convo about his life and some decisions he had made about where he wants to go and what he wants to do in the next year. I love that guy and I really enjoy being able to be real with him about his life and big decisions he's making right now.
We got to the deck site, dropped off some materials, then switched cars. Then Lowen and Marky drove me over to the shed site to start helping Percy out for the day. Richard never showed, so when I got there it was just me and Percy trying to finish up this shed.
We worked hard, but it was hot, and the difference bettwen two people and three people on a job is enormous, so the lack thereof really slowed us down. We tried our best but we really didn't make a whole lot of progress. Between the two of us, we ended up finishing up the rafters and putting up the cripple braces (as Percy called them), but that was about it. Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have a bigger crew.
One of the cool things about working alone with Percy for the day was the fact that we had a lot of time to talk about life on the reservation, his life and past, and a little bit about Lakota spirituality. I got to share with him some of my opinions of some different topics, but overall it was just really sweet to be able to have a real conversation with him and be able to get to know him a little better.
I told Marky to come pick me back up before he was done for the day because I didn't think Percy was going to drive back to the office before he went home for the day and I didn't want to inconvenience him. Marky got there around 4pm and we left about half an hour later.
On the way back to the office, Marky and I talked about how we should do something after work sometimes. Jordan's in Valentine, NE has unlimited bbq ribs every Thursday for $10, so I think it would be really cool to go with Marky down to Valentine sometime! It turns out that Greg actually wanted to hit up Jordan's tonight, so I went back to my place, met Greg there, then we tried to get everybody together to go down to Valentine.
Sean and Daniel had pulled into town earlier this afternoon so I called them and got a hold of them telling them to come down to our house. Jonny left for gas, so we had to wait for him to double check that he didn't want to come with us, then we were waiting on a call from Kelly to make sure she didn't want to come either.It was a little bit of a fiasco trying to leave that night.
Somewhere in between Sean and Daniel getting to our house, and Jonny coming back from the gas station, I was given one of the best surprises I've received since I came out here. When Sean got to my place, he asked me to help him carry something in. He called Daniel too, but Daniel didn't seem as sketchy as Sean did. His eyes were shifting, he was talking pretty quietly. I had no idea what we were carrying in, so I really wasn't prepared for what I found!
When Sean was opening the trunk, I was in the middle of talking about his car with him. I'm pretty sure I stopped mid-sentence, though, because what I saw in the trunk was alive! I was kind of stunned, but then I realized it was my girlfriend! I was soooo excited to see her! Seven weeks is a long time to not see someone after 3yrs of spending most of our time together!
It turns out that Brooke had been keeping this secret from me since Sunday! She's obviously very clever because I have no idea if I could pull off keeping a secret for so long, and she did it wonderfully! What a beautiful surprise! She even told me she was staying home all day-- bored out of her mind -- but I guess that was only a half truth. The drive on the way here is pretty boring .
After I found Brooke in the trunk, we were able to make our way into Valentine. Finally! Jonny, Brooke, Greg, Sean, Daniel, and I all enjoyed some unlimited bbq ribs when we got there! It was absolutely wonderful!
By the time we got back, everything was getting kind of late, so we all just hung out at Emily's for a little while before we decided to start a movie. I'm didn't see the entire thing, because I fell asleep, then I made my way back to the intern house after the movie and crashed. I need my sleep for tomorrow! We are tubing down the niobrara on our own tubes. It's going to be pretty sweet! And cheap!
That's about it! Thank you so much for all of your support!
Love,
Brenden
Things I learned today:
1. Full blooded Indians always have black or brown eyes.
2. Apparently my girlfriend can fit in the trunk of a Hundai
3. Acts 16
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