Page 34 - 1st Anthology 2011

I think about him quite a bit, we were just talking about him a month ago my aunt and I.
When he was just about passing away. She said she went to see him and she told him,
your horses are outside waiting for you and I know you’re not getting better so you better
leave; go, your team is waiting outside for you. Go out and get on them and leave, leave us
here and we’ll deal with this misery.

Even when he’s gone and when people talk about him nicely, the good times that they
had; it’s nice to hear people talking about him like that. I’m very thankful for people
talking about him like that. Lots of memories, and there are certain areas where you can
remember clearly. There are some things that you kind of block out and can’t remember
or you just don’t want to talk about it and stuff like that.

You know every day, as you get older you realize a lot of things. You start praying to have
a good day and I never did when I was younger. Just to make the day better for myself and
whoever is related to me. As the day goes by I guess you really appreciate everyday as you
get older. The little things to appreciate life. Some people don’t really grasp it. They don’t
get up in the morning and feel good, eat breakfast and say your prayers. There are some
people, I think about, that have all these problems. I think to myself how can I help them.
The way I do it, is to pray for everybody but I don’t go around and show off telling them I
pray for everyone. I just keep it inside of me as much as I can. The love is there, that
whole reserve out there I’m related to.

Right now I can’t even do too much, nephews and grandson are just jumping at me,
saying uncle I’ll do this or grandpa I’ll do that for you. I always picked up my garbage
when I needed to, but that’s how much respect I get. I’m glad some of the younger
parents were taught to respect their elders and they are very polite.

Well my dad’s mom is Bessie Meguinis. There was my dad, Mary Jane Starlight, Mike
Meguinis, Sarah Meguinis and Walter Meguinis. That’s all my aunties and uncles on my
dad’s side. I’m not too sure, but I want to get it crystal clear that Grasshopper, supposed
to be our name. How we ended up with Meguinis, was something mixed up or something
and I don’t want to say anything on tape that is not right. Ever since I’ve known I’ve been
stuck with that name. That’s how I’m related. I know Bessie. I spent time with her, when I
was younger about ten or twelve years old. She used to stay with Sarah. She used to take
care of ʔino Bessie.

Granny Bessie was the great one for beading. Her brother was David Crowchild, and
David used to get Bessie to do stuff for the Calgary Stampede. Teepee pegs, and the
tripods for the backrest inside the teepee. She used to do a lot of stuff like tanning hides.
She did a lot of beading for her children. You know moccasins, belts, and stuff like that. I
wonder if they still have it today, I don’t know. She made me a belt but I don’t know
where it went. It was a nice belt that she made me. When we used to go to school, the
days we were not feeling good we used to stay home and there’s not much for us to do.
She used to give us a tea towel, and she would poor beads in there and told us to go bead.

33