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Tota

Posted on 07/14/201107/14/2011 by Backpacking Dad

My mom is visiting until next week. She arrived late (late-late) on Tuesday night, and since then she has:

Visited the Golden Gate Bridge.

99mff 

Received tutoring in Wii Sports Resort Table Tennis from a four-year old

b3dba

Visited Uncle Shopkeep Alexei at Fiat Lux.

Taught an indifferent waitress at a San Francisco restaurant the difference between French Fries and home fries; gotten her finger stuck in a ring at Uncle Shopkeep Alexei’s store; and washed the dishes (sneakily, after I caught her and stopped her from washing them yesterday).

In case you can’t tell from the pictures, or have never read any of my posts about the reservation, my mom is Mohawk, from Akwesasne. The Mohawk word for “grandma” (or grandpa) is tota, (pronounced du-da, or deux-da for you francophiles). Erin has always known my mom as her tota, but we’ve talked about what it means, and that her tota is my mom, and her grandma.

The other day, when Erin, in full Disney-girl mode, offered “I wish I could know an Indian Princess….” all I could think was: You already know one.

DSC00027

8 thoughts on “Tota”

  1. karen says:
    07/14/2011 at 10:15 AM

    Very sweet!!

  2. Rachael says:
    07/14/2011 at 10:37 AM

    AWWW!! I love this!

  3. Angella says:
    07/14/2011 at 12:07 PM

    That last bit made me teary. She IS an Indian princess.

    I come from the north coast of BC and have close friends who are First Nation. I love the history and the culture and the beauty.

    I can see that in your Mom.

  4. Icymae says:
    07/14/2011 at 12:56 PM

    Nice to "meet" her. Does she still live on the rez? Remember, I go up there every couple of months.

  5. Jonna (aka tattooedm says:
    07/15/2011 at 3:55 AM

    And the last sentence of this blog is why I love reading your blog!

  6. Pingback: Why I Rid Myself of Disqus and NetworkedBlogs — Backpacking Dad
  7. Columbiarose says:
    07/15/2011 at 2:45 PM

    This is SUCH a neat post. Beautiful to see you honour your First Nations heritage, and such a compliment to your mom.

  8. Pingback: The Nintendo Wii is Super-Awesome — Backpacking Dad

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