Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

While visiting one of my 8 brothers a few nights ago, I heard a story. He shared with me a part of his life that I couldn’t stop thinking about. Each of you reading this might be able to relate to his story at some point in your life also. Did you ever go through a period when things just weren’t working out? – Sesi King

By Jake Swamp

This past December we decided to take a short vacation for the first time ever. Judy and I had travelled to many places before but it was always to share our cultural or political understandings. While our travels brought us to some interesting places, we never did take time out to just relax and let everything go. We were pretty much excited the day we left for Syracuse N.Y where we would board our flight the following day the 21st of December. We stayed at a local hotel where we spent the night. The following morning we left our hotel to report to the ticket counter, however when we got there the line was quite long. We stayed in line for more than two hours and we started to hear the complaints of the other passengers who told us that they had been stranded here for a few days because of cancellations due to the weather. We finally arrived at the ticket counter only to be told that the best thing they could do for us is to wait a couple of days and they could get us on a flight on Tuesday. Of course we were devastated and frustrated so we finally decided to come home and try again another time. We tried again in February the 12th, it was a Thursday. We arrived at our designated time at the airport, we stood in line once again only to be told that our flight was delayed for two hours due to high winds and that our destination, at Newark was closed down for the time being. We decided to wait it out. Later an announcement came that we were now cleared to board for our flight. After boarding we started to taxi a short distance on the runway. We sat in the airplane for about twenty minutes and it was announced that Newark was not accepting any planes at their airport because of the high winds. We were asked to make a choice, either we sit here on the plane and wait for about an hour or else we could deplane and make other arrangements. Judy and I made a decision to get off the plane, they told us we could claim our luggage at the ticket counter. Knowing that our grandson Ariwiio was to have some matches in boxing at the Turning Stone Casino we decided to stay the weekend. We had already rescheduled our flight to leave on Tuesday the 17th and extended our trip to the following Sunday. We stayed in Syracuse on Thursday night and headed on over to Oneida on Friday and checked into a hotel. We went over to the casino to watch the boxing matches that evening. Finally our grandson and his opponent were visibly reaching the ring area. They entered the ring and both fighters started to show off their punches to the near sellout crowd. The fighters took off their garments and came to the center to meet the referee who proceeded to explain the rules to them. They were told to go back to their corner. Then the bell rang and both fighters started to dance around and finally punches started to fly. It was fast and it was over quickly in the first round with a TKO in favor of Ariwiio. We stayed and watched the other matches until about eleven o’clock. The following day we spent some time in a local mall to take in some shopping. We went back to the casino on Saturday night to take in some more of the fights. This time Ariwiio lost by decision to his opponent, and disqualified him from the State Golden Gloves championship for the whole State. Ariwiio clearly won that match but the judges felt differently. Everyone we heard said that he got robbed; we didn’t realize that even in boxing there is a lot of favoritism. We went back to our hotel. The next day Sunday we headed back to Syracuse. Judy started to experience a slight fever and started to get worse. On Monday morning we realized that she needed medical attention. I finally found a number in the phone book

for the clinic at Onondaga. We were lucky to find out that there was a walk in clinic, I called the number and I was told I should call Irving Powless and he would direct us how to utilize the clinic. We went to the clinic and realized then how well we were treated from start to finish. They gave anti biotic medication and gave her a referral for an x-ray at the hospital. The x-ray results showed an infection in Judy’s lungs and that the medication should clear it up. We owe much thanks and gratitude to the Onondaga Nation for how well they treated Judy and their willingness to help. The following day Tuesday we went to the airport and finally we were on our way to Florida. We arrived in Florida at Orlando, our Son Karoniase, his wife Terri and their children were waiting for our arrival. We met at the baggage claim area to pick up our bags. Our grandchildren, Jacob, Kendrick and Maya relieved us of our bags and that made us feel good. We piled into their van and went to our car rental place to pick up our car that we would be using during the week to explore the area. We picked up the car and Karoniase offered to drive while Judy jumped in with Terri and the kids. We headed for Davenport where Karoniase, Terri and the kids were staying. While driving toward our destination my cell phone started to ring and it was my son Andy at the other end asking if we had arrived safely. And then he asked if he talk with his brother Karoniase so I handed over the phone- I overheard Karoniase say, “I’ll tell him”. Those few words worried me and I knew there will be some news coming. The next morning Karoniase knocked on our door and he came in to tell us that Judy’s sister Florence David had been involved in a terrible accident and that she hadn’t survived. I am kind of glad that Karoniase held back the news from the night before so that we could at least have a good night’s rest. I called our airlines

to let them know what had happened and they were very helpful in helping us with a flight home. Periodic tears were flowing as we were making our way home. We would ask each other why would all of these things keep happening to our family? For the past several months Judy lost two sisters and several close cousins. We were asking all kinds of questions to each other and nothing made much sense. I felt Judy had worked so hard in the upbringing of our seven children that she deserved at least a week of rest away from all of our responsibilities, just to kick back relax and let everything go. When we did a review of our lives, we realized that we’ve travelled to many different and interesting places. But these travels were different it was always about sharing our knowledge with other people and groups. We came to the conclusion that our destiny was laid out for us so that we could help other people in need somewhere in this world. People say that the creator moves in mysterious ways, and we believe now that must be the reason we have been shown so many ways in which to learn.

Have you ever heard the saying,” if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”? Well, in this case, the feeling received from these experiences is that it doesn’t feel right so it shouldn’t be or wasn’t meant to be. Something is saying abandon that idea or re-focus on something else. Maybe you can rebuild that positive energy in you so you can again achieve happier situations to allow you and your loved ones to experience that Joy and rest you so much desire. It certainly is time for you and Judy, you have both always been there for everyone else’s needs. – Sesi King