by Peter Twitchell
First order of business is I wish everyone in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta a very Happy New Year.
In my lifetime I’ve loved many things and many people. First, I love my Mom, I love my Dad, I love all my relatives and people who I went to school with, and all the Elders and people of the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta I’ve known. I love and cherish you all.
I’ve loved Our Lord Jesus Christ since I was a little boy going to church with Mom and Dad and listening to the word of God and all the stories of the Bible.
I’ve loved music all my life and I still do at 73 years young. I would love to play guitar, my bass guitar. All the people that I’ve ever played music with I’ve loved and cherished, they help me be the person I am today.
Sometimes I listen to the radio and watch TV and I hear people selling advertisements telling me to fall in love with this furniture store and fall in love with their furniture. That I will not do but I love my bed, it’s comfortable and I sleep well in it.
In my lifetime I’ve fallen in and out of love with women and these women have helped me to grow into a man and I appreciate them for who they are – Native women who follow their Native traditions and their families’ footsteps.
I’ve loved the cold – the frozen tundra, the frozen rivers, the frozen lakes, and everything in the rivers, lakes, and slush that fed me and made me who I am.
I love my family, my two daughters, my two sons, my nine grandchildren, and my two great grandchildren. I love the Elders who have helped me to grow up and become myself with my fellow man.
I love the mountains, I love the streams, I like the valleys, I love all the animals and the birds and I love the beautiful sunsets that helped my brain to have a focus and appreciation for life.
I’m sitting in my truck dictating all of this to my phone.
I love sobriety because it’s given me a healthy mind and body and I love all the Native foods which have made me strong in mind, body, and spirit.
Thank you very much for your support of The Delta Discovery, a locally-owned Native newspaper for the Native people in Alaska and those who appreciate it. Again Happy New Year!
