"The Free Spirit People" - Assinboine First Nations

There is so much to talk about when there is an opportunity to visit My Parents , first of all there is the play by play events of the day, than it leads to discussions about the week, the month,and then the events of the years. Eventually the visits become vehicles for travelling through time and back to the days when Mother Earth was able to tend to Her duties in a carefree manner, with the stories you could see that it was what the Western World called a "Paradise".
My Parents are of the fourth generation of the " Free Spirit People", they belong to the Assiniboine of the Eagle Hills. The "Free Spirit People" are a people that did not make contact with the Western World, even though they knew long before contact that there were other inhabitants on Mother Earth. Then there were the people who witnessed Contact and this was the Meeting of Nations, these people were helpful, perhaps too helpful because the First Nations People paid with their lives ; nine out of ten First Nations People would succumb to foreign diseases. Then there were the First Nations People who were being hunted and captured and forced into assimilation by being taken onto reserves and this period was full of hardships, sorrow and sadness, as "Freedom" was taken away. My parents are both Seventy Years Old they are the last of the connection to a past where Language was the most Important tool to survival, they both remember a time when they would meet the Very Old People- the ones that travelled the Plains without any sign of the Western People. My Father, William Starchief can still sing history through ancient songs, while my Mother Mary Jane Spyglass can tell stories of the different geographical markers within the Eagle Hills, as well as most of the Plains, She can tell a story about people travelling through the territory and show you evidence such as Teepee Rings that there was occupation.
It is such an educational time when you travel through time just by listening and eating and drinking Tea, the teachings you are privilaged to hear stay with you forever andwhen you live by these teachings than life becomes a little easier to live.