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.

After we were out of that mess, we finished the drive to Albuquerque. I was so mad at myself for setting the camera bag down that I was ready to put all the jewelry in the safe and weld the safe shut. But calmer heads prevailed, Amy calmed me down. And she suggested that we find someplace to watch a sunset. That place was an hours drive and five-thousand feet higher then we are in Albuquerque. But it was worth the trip. But what was even better was finding a drive-in afterward that served ginger ale milkshakes and great fries. Now if their hamburgers are just as good.

Ajie and I also met with a reporter from the Navajo Times that was going to write an article about Dibe receiving the plaque. We also found out that he was an investigative reporter and was working on something that Chief Peshlakai was doing that went deeper than what the chief was doing to us.

We also meditated at the bonfire with Dibe, and she felt her spirit. When as we took her home, we talked, and she learned that when she had challenged me to do something for my people that it had sparked the idea for the scholarship.

Last night, Dibe had said, “It’s hard to remember that you are a boy, seeing you as Kai.”

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.”

The most significant thing that had happened to us is that Amy and I had graduated from college, and she did it as a Summa Cum Laude graduate. I love this girl and I’m so proud of her.

Well, our parents giving us a new car was another big thing that happened.

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.

When we returned home from the wedding, there was, along with our grades, a letter from the University of New Mexico's College of Nursing for Amy. They were offering her a full ride scholarship for her master's degree. The College of Nursing here at home had already offered Amy a full ride scholarship. Amy and I talked about this, and it was decided to have Amy’s parents over for dinner with my parents, and have a family meeting.

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.