The Thanksgiving Holiday was a good one. My Mom-in-law thought that I might have been wigged out by the reservation, and I was thinking I might be, to be honest. We didn’t experience any pan handling or get chased by any stray rez dogs (even though there was a beautiful blue boxer mix that I really wanted to bring home, if it weren’t wild…) and all in all it was mostly just a quiet holiday with family. But I’ll start from the beginning.
First of all- do you have any idea how much effort and planning it takes to travel with a baby? I’m sure you do. I was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we needed to bring. We brought his travel yard, and while it is super comfy for baby…not the best thing to take apart and put together. We also (and this made me feel like a grown up) packed a cooler with drinks and snacks from home, which meant that we only ate out 1 time the entire trip! We made it almost home, but ended up getting 11pm McDonalds after a particularly fussy baby decided to fill his diaper and we just needed a break. With chicken nuggets.
The drive down was quick, it seemed. We started out around 11am on Wednesday and just took our time. Camper slept most of the way, woke up and ate once and seemed like he wanted to play, so we walked around outside a bit. Then he fell asleep again. He actually slept quite a bit the entire time, not sure why. Travelling seems to mess with his schedule in a weird way.
We got there and visited with le parents for awhile. The 5th wheel they’ve been assigned to live in (they’re serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) is actually quite spacious and nice, although they said that while it looks nice it wasn’t made very nicely. But it was definitely warm and cozy for us over the holiday. We stayed in a Holiday Inn, which was also nice, except for the fact that no one cleaned our room the entire time we stayed there, even after I called and requested new towels and someone to come and clean while we were gone for the afternoon. When I talked to the manager at check out he didn’t seem to want to compensate us with a free night…so he gave us 50% off each night (2 night stay) instead. Yeah. That’s what I thought.
We ate a good meal on Thanksgiving Day, watched some movies and just chatted. Camper seemed to love the attention he was getting- there were always arms to hold him and someone talk to. He’s been rather chatty these days…and when he wasn’t chatting he was sleeping. The first night in the hotel he was particularly chatty. John was feeling really sick, I think it was the worse night of the cold he’s had lately, and le baby decided he just wanted to visit. He wasn’t fussy, just AWAKE. He finally laid down in his travel crib and closed his eyes only to open them coyly, look at me all cute-like and say a teeny “goo.” He knows I love it when he says goo. Silly baby. And this is how he ended up sleeping with us. And how he ended up getting spoiled to the point where he doesn’t like his crib very much right now. Sigh. Maybe one day he’ll sleep alone again.
We stayed Friday as well, which ended up being my favorite day as we just ate leftovers and talked and watched more movies. We also had some visitors, the couple who runs horses on John’s parents’ land. They were interesting to listen to. It made me want to ride a horse. We were planning on riding this past summer, but I ended up being pregnant for most…no…ALL of it. So that plan got left behind.
We were trying to figure out whether we should sleep Friday night and then drive home Saturday, or just head out Friday evening…and decided on the latter. I figured if we were counting on Camper to sleep he wouldn’t, so we’d be better off just getting home where we could take turns napping and taking care of him in his own space. I’m not sure if that was a mistake or not, we were majorly uberly tired by the time we got home. I’m still working through the laundry, the house is still a mess, and only today have we started to feel a little more energetic again. Hopefully we’ll be rested up enough to start now on the things we really need to do…lost of packing and studying and test taking and paper writing and cleaning and organizing and planning and oh yeah baby watching…yeah. The move is 20 days away. Crazy close.
I actually felt rather emotional leaving the reservation. John got a blessing from his father, and while I sat and listened I felt overwhelmed by the love that they his parents have for him, and for me and for our son. I wish, sometimes, that this country were smaller, or that plane tickets were cheaper, or both. It’s bitter sweet. John and I are so excited to move and start life in New England together, but we feel the real loss of proximity to half of our family. I think we’re just all going to have to make more of an effort to be together when we can. No matter what side of the country we live on we’ll always be leaving someone out, so I guess we should be looking for permanent somewhere in the middle? Sadly, the answer is not that simple.
The reservation was an interesting experience. It did have some amazingly beautiful views, and it was quiet. So, so quiet. Sadly most buildings seemed terribly run down, and the few times we stopped by a store or something we saw an incredible difference in the people, some who seemed well off and others who seemed like they had nothing. More than anything I was struck by a sense of stagnancy. I’m not sure how the reservations are meant to help the Native American people. I know that what I saw was a far cry from the reservations I grew up near in Connecticut, the huge beautiful houses and casinos, theme park rides and restaurants. Why are they so different? Do the tribes simply make different choices?All in all I am very, very curious. But definitely not wigged out.
