During our free day in Santa Fe, I was sitting by myself in the plaza, enjoying the beautiful weather and interesting sights, when a Native American man came and sat down beside me. We began to talk, and the conversation quickly came to be about cultural history and relations in the area. Our conversation was easy and heartfelt, not at all uncomfortable in the way that conversations with strangers sometimes are. Upon my phone ringing, we said good-bye. A little while later, as I sat on a bench with my sister, he approached me and told me to hold out my hands, into which he placed a pair of beautiful dark blue earrings. He said that he wanted me to leave New Mexico with something, to have them. Then he told me the story. His young nephew was in the army, and was sent to Irag twice and then Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan, a bomb blew up nearby him. He said it looked like it was raining blue. He and the other guys went to check it out- the bomb had hit a quarry of lapis. His nephew brought home a large chunk of the deep blue rock, and made jewelery from it. The man was wearing a ring and a bracelet made from that chunk of lapis, and the earrings that he'd given me were made from it as well. He told me that he wore those earrings while he danced; people would say why are you wearing those silly dangling earrings, but you know. He also said that his nephew was sick, and they don't know if he'll mentally recover from the war. He then shook my hands and said May the great spirit be with you. My thank you wasn't sufficient. But each time that I wear the earrings, I will be sending good thoughts to the man and to his nephew. We never did exchange names.
emily