Page 84 - 1st Anthology 2011

said it’s me nika nanisha and I said I want to go with you. He said not now. He said your
family, your grandchildren and relations missed you. He said you’re going to go out and
go home one day.

The way I look at my life. I talk backwards but yet I understand from moving around. I
was a gypsy, now I’m home. I feel at home that’s why I’m happier each and every day. Like
when I left it was just like part of me was gone then when I moved home it was part of me
felt better.

That’s what happened. I came home and I was on the reserve. Then I moved to Black Bear
Crossing. Then we got evacuated and I had to stay in the Carriage House Hotel. Finally
they got me a place to live in, in the North West. Then they finally gave me a house.

I believe in the Creator. My grandfather told me before he died that he’ll always be with
me. I was only about seven years old. He told me, in our language. He was like my spirit
guide. Some days when I drank he told me to quit and I use to quit. What he told me I
would always listen. I would listen to what my parents told me. These are some of the
things I’ve become to realize today.

I felt special, and unique because of what he told me. Like I was his pupil to teach my
fellow humans but yet some people don’t believe me about seeing the Creator. They think
I’m just talking out of the air. Yet I know I saw him and I take off my glasses. I am not
lying. I’m back here to try and help you, but if you don’t believe me that’s okay. I know
what I’ve seen and I’m not naive. I think positive because of what he told me, and today
when I think negative I look at what I have seen.

I have visions of what, for like seasons and stuff. People don’t believe these things but I
see things ahead of time. It’s like something that was given to me that I should tell people
to be aware of the future.

In today’s day and age these young people talk to me and they understand what I’m trying
to do. They learn to respect me because of what I’m trying to do. I’m on the reserve trying
to teach the young people the language. A lot of young people in this day and age, like
after band meetings for the citizenship code, they say I wish I learned this language.
Some of them say they feel lost without the language. I tell them you can go to school and
learn the language. Bruce Starlight has a school and it’s never too late for you to learn.
Tsuut’ina can be taught.

The young kids know it in school but its different dialects and each generation has a
different dialect. There’s this young guy that speaks the language. It’s different from me
he’s name is Hal Eagletail, his dialect is different from mine. The older people, the first
generation got a different dialect, like the second generation. I’m the fifth generation
speaking the language. I have my own dialect cause of my lisp I can’t pronounce some of
the words in the old ways. I still understand the old language. When they are talking it I
understand what they are saying.

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