She exhales as we encircle her and inhale the newness of her life. With every new family birth elders search for a trace of themselves. We look for a connection and a continuation with each new generation. We look to the impossible idea of immortality through our youth. Who, indeed, does she resemble? Whose likeness will she carry on?
Gazing at our precious new niece, my thoughts turn inward as I question my own ancestral connections. Looking into my eyes, what did my elders say? Whose legacy do I carry on? Who do I resemble?
I have the eyes of my mother, my beautiful mother, who drinks in the quiet call of the Creator.
My ears? From my grandfather whose heart listened to Mother Nature as he gently gathered Her bounty.
My nose? From my father who covers the scent of human frailties with the healing balm of his medicine.
And my mouth? Inherited from all my ancestors whose sighs, laughter, tears, and tragedies still echo as they pass through my lips.
From where did I receive my heart? Every beat reverberates the echoing of the drum of those who walked before me as Indian Boarding School student marching off to class.
And my soul? From those who prayed for me 7 generations before.
You who feel lost, abandoned, seeped in solitude remember: none of us is truly alone. Within us we carry all our relations from the Creator down to our cousins. With every blink and breath we are encircled body, mind, and spirit to those who came before us and to those who loved us before we even knew our own name.
Gazing back to this new born babe, I pray that this little one be blessed with eyes for peace, a mouth for truth, and a heart for continuing our families' belief that through love, we are all connected.
Dawn Quigley is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa