Shee'pan-nuut 'nuun, Dziish

Lucione has been doing exactly what my mother-in-law had hoped she'd do. She's keeping me busy. She's keeping my mind occupied on things other than how lonesome I am. She's helping me to find reasons to smile.

Today was her last day of basketball camp but we are by no means going to slow down. We'll be attending a potlatch tomorrow and Saturday and on Sunday, of course, we'll be busy celebrating Founder's Day. Monday I have a huge family reunion potluck to go to.

I'm really looking forward to the reunion because it is my maternal grandmother's family. We were extremely close, my grandmother and I. She called me Carrie-O. I never asked why, but I loved hearing it.

This house I'm living in now, was hers. This room I'm in now, was my toy room. It was so full of toys, there were days you couldn't see the floor. We had huge cardboard boxes along the walls that were used to hold the toys.

She liked to drink 7-Up. She always used a straw. The kind that bend. I giggled one day when I heard the noise of the straw bending. After that, she would insist I bend her straw.

My mom and I used to decorate the house for Christmas. One year, she asked my mom to put a big MC on the ceiling. She told my mom it would stand for "Merry Christmas" but she whispered to me that it would mean "My Carrie".

I remember the day she got her new carpet. It had just been installed and the furniture was still out of the room. She laid herself down in the middle of the floor. When my sister and I asked her what she was doing, she said, "Lay with me. I'll show you how to break-in a new rug." We rolled around on the floor laughing for what felt like forever.

I play the clarinet. My gram bought it for me when I was 9 years old. At her request, I stopped by her house every day after school and she'd listen to me practice.

I still remember the last time I saw her. It was May 2nd, 1983. She was sick with lung cancer and they were going to transport her to Seattle. She refused to get in the ambulance. I sat with her and told her it was the right thing to do. I was only 12. But she listened to me. She got in the ambulance. We followed her out to the runway and I watched them put her on a jet. I watched her jet disappear in the distance and I nearly collapsed in tears. 3 days later she passed away.

She was 75. Her birthday was yesterday. I still miss her but living in her house feels comforting. It will be nice to be among family on Monday.