Reznjun

today is the birthday of my two older brothers gary and larry. we had a lifetime together. we grew up on the rez when it was a poor place to live. we didnt have running water, electricity, computers or cell phones. that was b.c. ( before casinos). we didnt know we were poor. we had a rich life. we spent our early years with each other. we got sent off to boarding school where we were put thru a brain washing process. it didnt work with us. we were still renegade indians. we went to high school together and played sports. football was our favortie sport but we played them all. we used to play baseball in a hayfield with hub caps as the bases. sports were fun. they allowed us to be on the same team. we pushed each other to be better.

after and during high school, life took us on separate paths. larry went to viet nam. we used to play cowboys and indians as kids. war wasnt a game. gary stayed near home. larry and i went where ever the road took us. i did the military thing a while, went to job corps. larry and i went on the government relocation thing. that was a program to take the indian off the rez. thing is it couldnt take the rez out of us. we always got back together over the years. we worked together on many jobs. friends come and go but a brother is forever. we always knew where the others were at. even when larry was in viet nam we knew where he was stationed. he got wounded there but didnt tell anyone until later to save us the grief.

we lost larry a few years back. during the funeral i was pushed to the back. didnt really matter. we had been thru so much together. i dont think the others knew larry as well as gary and i did. we could finish each others sentences. we were alike on alot of things. we were all writers of sorts. we wrote differently. gary did a book on history. larry did part of his life in a book, and had a blog. i did the blog trip for awhile too. i slacked off because i got too much hate mail. some people just cant handle someone else having an opinion that didnt jive with theirs. i am still working on my book. i have to join my brothers in being published.

we all got married and had kids. but we still looked at one another as family. i miss larry alot. we would chat on the computer several times a day. whenever an event happened we would compare notes on our take of it. gary and i do alot of ceremonies together. our mother taught us part of her beautiful language. we use it to help people. we do it because not many people want to mess with that part of our life.

even though larry aint with us physically anymore he is still our brother. we never forget him. happy birthday brothers. we will play ball together again in the land where our people go.