My little blue-eyed Navajo girl

At almost 9 months, I finally got S enrolled with the tribe.  It was actually a painless process, but very easy to delay.  After months and months, I finally called the enrollment office and got an application.  The hardest part was tracking down a notary, which we ultimately ended up going to the UPS store (who knew they were all notaries?).  The turn around was really quick!  A week later and viola!  S has her very own Certificate of Indian Blood and enrollment number.

I remember being a young girl on the Navajo reservation.  Being chased by wild dogs when we ran to school, gathering the Navajo tea plant from the side of the road when we went on family walks.  Ninja Turtles the movie came out and everyone went to the one theater in town.  Getting to know my family out west.  Even though my dad was very busy with work, he managed to instill in us a sense of pride for our heritage and a need to give back to our community.  I haven't reached it yet, but my main goal is to work on American Indian environmental health policy.  I'm not sure what S will do in the future, but I hope along the way I manage to teach her about her roots and that she too will want to give back to her community.  Hoping to get her down to the rez for the family reunion this summer!