Personal Experiences
Gail Rita Atherton, My Gram
On Monday, May 25, my family, my aunt and cousins and I stood next to the bed side of my Grandmother as she took her last breath. She had been fighting a long and hard battle with lung cancer for the past six months, but in a miracle, her last moments were peaceful. Although writing this makes me cry, I feel like I HAVE to include my Gram in my project about individuality. She was the perfect picture of an strong and independent woman. Ever since I can remember, she has never done anything quietly. Everything was made into a larger deal than it maybe should have been, good and bad depending on the circumstance. She stood out, made herself known. She had fun doing it. I look up to everything that my grandmother was. As I have heard from people through out the past few weeks, my grandma didn't have a very easy time growing up, but despite everything that could have possibly set her back, she kept going and made her own life, had 3 daughter, 6 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild. She loved all of us more than she ever let be known. I personally could feel the love in everything that she did for me, from driving me to work, practices, appointments. Almost never turning me down when I needed something, and always greeting me with such love and thankfulness. Her love for me and her other grandchildren was so much more than we could ever imagine. My grandma never found her romantic true love, but her true love was us. She was so giving to us in every way possible. She always went against the current and inspired me to do the same through out my whole life. I could't have asked for a better strong and independent woman as a role model in my life. She was always grateful for what she had and frequently said, "Aren't we blessed". I am so inspired by the strong front she always put up, but the extremely loving and caring interior she had. I will always love and remember my Gram for her free spirit and never ending love.
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Mission Trip to Rosebud Reservation in Mission, SD, April 2015
I was lucky enough to spend this last April vacation on a mission trip on an American Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Rosebud Reservation is extremely depressed, with many many alcoholics and drug addicts, and with many people who have lost all motivation in life. There is a mission on Rosebud called Tree of Life Ministries. Tree of Life gets hundreds of volunteers every year to help run their for pantry, café, thrift store, thrift store warehouse, and to of construction jobs. While there are many volunteers there, all of these facilities are run by at least a few of the Native Americans that live on Rosebud. These people are volunteers as well, however. It inspired me a lot to go there and see these people that already had so much going against them in life, and yet they're volunteering their time to better the lives of people in their community. To me, that is such an act of individuality because so often people are only interested in being self serving and not caring about other people's lives. It was amazing that these people who already had so little could rally and help others to live better lives. I also found it inspiring that in this ever changing world the Native Americans can hold on to their culture and values, as I experienced when I did a sweat lodge ceremony. Th best thing I learned from the people of Rosebud is the term "Mitakuye Oyasin" which means we are all related.
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