you were always on my mind

last night rose and i were driving home from crow. i had to be over there for work for the last 5 days. we stopped at a truck stop and i decided to buy a cd for the ride home. there were two cds i wanted....each one holds a different period of my life. i ended up buying willie nelson. always on my mind. about the time that album came out, so did walkmans. i remember my mom bought one for my dad for christmas and the tape she bought to go with it was this willie nelson album. i was about 11. as i told rose last night, i fell in love with the sound of willie nelson's voice on his version of bridge over troubled water originally done by simon and garfunkel. even to hear the song now makes me teary. i remember driving with my dad to crow for business or tribal council meetings or for him to meet with clients and we would take turns listening to his walkman. there are very distinct memories of those songs rolling out onto the plains with me taking me to where i needed to go. its those moments, the times you think are meaningless that shape a child's life. not living there anymore makes me sad for the things my daughter doesnt experience. so many things i leared about being crow were revealed in the everydayness of just being and being around people who are. there are things she gets here about being salish....i just wonder how to provide her both....willie nelson shaped my life with that one album and everything after that...my father shaped my life with all of those hours spent following him around. my daughter shapes my life when i try to remember what was most important to me and figure out a way to convey that to her....its all on my mind....