When I’d gotten home from being with the old sheep rancher, I’d checked the answering machine. I was hoping that I’d hear from my advisor, Mr. Robertson, about my grad assistant position. But no such luck.

We went up to the Crest to walk and relax, and we had our first lovers quarrel. Then after a talk, a pizza, and a bottle of wine things we were back to normal.

Saturday, Ajie and I had overslept and didn’t get breakfast before we left for the dance competition. When we were finally there and were walking through the vendor area, we stopped at one of the vendors that sells beaded jewelry and pottery, but they happened to have a hair-pipe bone choker with silver for sale. We bought it and took it to Mr. Yazzie. And we found out from him that Kilchii Nez had made part of it. Ajie and I went back to the vendor that we’d purchased the choker from and found that they had a wooden box that they had gotten at an estate sale.

What was in this box?

A trip to Taos turned interesting when we ran into Uncle Paul’s Cousin Ahiga at Mr. Yazzie’s shop as Mr. Yazzie was trading for another piece of my Great-Great-Grandfather Kilchii Nez’s silver pieces.

On Sunday morning we took Kelly and Larry to the airport, and we said so long to them. Then we changed clothes and headed to Window Rock, Arizona and a meeting of the clan at the Tribal Council Chambers.

The meeting turned out as I knew it would. Tahoma Etsitty, the husband of Dr. Etsitty, who is Amy’s preceptor at the university, became the Chief of the Azee'tsoh dine'é (The Big Medicine People clan).

Then Kelly and Larry had asked us to be the godparents to their baby, who could say no to that. The barbecue went smoothly. No surprise guests. I sat and meditated at the bonfire under a full Moon. And as Naainish had told me, there were no problems with my spirits and the Moon or spirits of the bonfire. I did tell Kelly and Larry that I felt that their son would do some amazing things during his lifetime.

When we were back at the resort, Naainish filled us in on the Eagle feathers. And I filled him, my aunt and uncle, and Maria and Mark in on the Eagles back home. Was this too much information for Mark and Maria.

After we’d finished shopping, we paid a call on Mr. Yazzie the silversmith. It was a surprise, as he didn’t know that Ajie and I were in town. We joked around with him about the two rings that he’d slipped into our goodie bag last year. He’d also shown us a lovely piece of work that my Great-Great-Grandfather Kilchii Nez had done. It was a small silver box with a round turquoise piece in the center of the top.

Amy had started her summer classes. She has two classes that meet four times a week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Which limits the time that we had to do things, but we’ll work around it.

Today, being Friday, we were at the resort for the barbecue. And it was as Kai and Ajie. We’d talked with Dibe a little. Then we wandered around talking to the guests.

We’d had also found maps of the parks in Albuquerque, and one of the parks had a trail that sounded interesting, and we’d taken a two-and-a-half mile hike on a loop trail. And we found out that we haven’t adjusted to the climate and altitude in the area. Albuquerque is a little over five-thousand feet above sea level, and back home is only about nine-hundred feet.

I said, “Who the heck is here at this hour?”

My mother asked, “Tom, would you answer that please?”

As I got up, I said, “Sure mom.”

Today was Monday, April 3, the first day of our final quarter of undergraduate studies. We had a calendar in our bedroom that showed the countdown to two things. The first was the countdown to commencement, and that was at seventy days. The second was the countdown to the day we leave for New Mexico, and that was at eighty days.

Amy and I only had three classes each this quarter, and none of those classes met on Friday. So, in theory, we had three day weekends. But Amy set Friday as her day to study for her test for her registered nurse's license. And that was okay because it was important to her.

Something had told us that we should take the little tree that had grown from the twig that we’d buried a few months ago in mom’s flower garden with us to New Mexico.

I had all but given up on Maria and Mark coming out to New Mexico when Kelly and Larry were there so that the whole crew could experience a Southwestern barbecue together. But I still had a few months to try and figure something out.

We’d also planned a dinner with the crew to show them the photo album of the fake wedding that Amy and I had, with me as the bride and Amy as the groom. We also decided to surprise them by Tammy dressing like the bride she was that day.

On Friday we had a wedding rehearsal, a rehearsal dinner, and then we decorated the church hall for the reception. Larry didn’t want a bachelor’s party. But the girls went to a bachelorette party set up by Kelly’s cousin Mary Beth who was also the maid of honor. The party had been a bust thanks to a stripper. And there had been some nasty words between Kelly and Mary Beth.

It was possible that Mary Beth wouldn’t show up at the wedding. Who would take her place?

Amy had told me that what she saw with Mr. O’Brian and his nervous breakdown was looking good. But we’d see happens with the wedding. I was keeping my fingers crossed.

The Chief Nastas Todachine Memorial Scholarship was finally a go.

Today, Saturday, we had some fun when all the bride maids in Kelly’s wedding came to town for dress fittings. And Tammy went along. Of course, only Amy, Kelly, and Maria knew that Tammy wasn’t a real girl. It appeared that Kelly and Maria were a little nervous undressing in front of Tammy. But a talk afterward seems to have gotten them to understand who Tammy is. Maybe.