Baptisms
The roads weren�t too bad once I got off the Rez. I was so worried about the Missouri Breaks that I had bad dreams about hurtling off the edge, but they had plowed it and all the snow had melted into puddles. And then Friday when we drove back it was beautiful. Matthew got a little nervous because I was driving 90 miles an hour. He told me that I couldn�t do that once I came back to Baltimore. I had never gone so fast before this year, but the roads are so straight and long, there usually aren�t any other cars or houses, and the airport is 160 miles from my house. I also found out last week that speeding tickets given on the reservation don�t count as points on my state license, so now I worry even less about speeding.
My housemates and I were the music for Easter Vigil and Easter day mass. I haven�t played my clarinet since high school, Donna hasn�t played the piano since grade school, and Barb played the tambourine and sang. But I guess we were the best there was to be had. It turned out okay, but I got a little nervous and missed some of the high notes while playing in front of everybody. I also sang the Alleluia with Barb. I�ve never sang in public before except for karaoke.
Father Bob baptized seven children in 15 minutes after mass, because he had a train to catch. Five of them were from the same family, the Gardipees. The parents decided to have them all baptized in one go. The oldest is in first grade, and the youngest is three months old. Sort of like how my family was, five kids in six years. I visited their house once, and it is the most isolated spot I�ve ever seen. It is 20 miles out of town by Three Buttes, and then their house is down a dirt road another three miles. You can�t see any other houses from theirs. No wonder Ella has so many kids, it�s the only way they�d have playmates. The kids were all dressed up for their baptism, and Broncette and Lawrence (the kindergartener) went full immersion. Broncette has to be the little mother. She always watches out for Lawrence in school. When he was invited to a birthday party, she called Donna up and asked her if Jace was nice to Lawrence. The toddler kept running away during mass and Broncette would go after her and mind her.
My mother sent boxes of chocolate to me, my housemates, and Matthew. Each year I think this will be the year that I�m just too old and I won�t get an Easter basket, but it hasn�t happened yet. I don�t think Mom wants to think I�m too old yet, and I love chocolate, so we haven�t given it up. She gave Matthew a chocolate cross. Its sacrelicious. He said it�s just too funny to eat. Amy said she got one when she was in 7th grade and decided that the only time she could eat it was when she was reading the Bible.
