5-17-08
Yesterday was the second-to-last day of school. A couple of the kids that I work with won’t be back for the last day so yesterday was the last day that I will ever see them again. One of the kids is one of my favorites and I almost cried at the end of the day when we were taking pictures. This kid cracks me up. He comes up to me and carefully pushes the hair out of my face when my bangs swing forward. On the first day he started poking me in the face which freaked me out until I figured out he had just read “My Teacher’s an Alien” and he was trying to figure out how to take my mask off. I told him it was far too advanced for him to figure out and we got along ever since. He was sad too. He asked to sit by me at lunch and reminded me about eight hundred times to make sure to take pictures. I got some of the greatest pictures I have ever seen of these kids and I’ve already flipped through them many times. I literally get tears in my eyes when I see the joy shine from these kids and the humor that they bring when I know what is going on in their lives. I know that Monday is going to be incredibly hard for me. I have come here for just a couple of weeks and I’ve connected to these kids so much that leaving now makes my heart just break every time I think about it.

Just a side note: we’ve run into some amazing last names here. Some in my class are Sitting Up, Black Lance, Whirlwind Soldier, and Medicine Eagle/Iron Heart. Some other names are Kills Plenty and Respects Nothing and Burning Breast. I can’t get over the names- I just feel that they are emblematic and gorgeous. These people wear their hearts on their sleeves. I went to a naming ceremony/eighth grade graduation today where traditional names like these were given to the graduates. People close to them chose these names especially for them and read them in Lakota first. One name that I remember is Strong Woman with Smile.