Light snow fell on the cedars and there was peace and quiet in the
stillness. A Navajo father, but he could have been anyoone's father
rode on horseback with his daughter on a journey together from sunset to dawn to find a place beyond Fluted Rock. It is winter and they are bundled up and travelling in such a way is simple, you have to go from here to there and the path is clear to see.

If it was so with life it would be simple to go about and not find the
pitfalls that somehow make their way to cause one to stumble.
He and his daughter go on to meet the dawn, they are bundled as they go East to Tsinijinii, one of the Sacred Mountains. He rides a little
behind her and in riding their silence speaks about family, love and
caring as they pick their path to early morning light. She is no longer just a shild but has grown and now can find her own way.
At dawn some things make themselves clear and at times she wants to go her own way. So you follow behind and let her pick the path to go.

When she was a child she was wrapped in a blanket made by her nali, (aunt) and was placed in cradle board and watched him as he went bout his chores. He would sing her songs, and among them was a Riding Song, an old Navajo tune that spoke about getting up early before the sun and getting ready to head out and the song lifted itself in the movement of the horses and he would sing it as he worked.

He stopped for a minute and rmembered this girl with flashing eyes,
made so as she had five borthers and learned to stand up for herself
and so could handle all of them. I suppose many fathers think about how a small child stood there next to them, he remembered her small hand in his.

He took her to high bluffs and on many walks talking about family, the stories of life and how certain things happen. He lifted her to tall
red rocks and watched her play and she grew little by little. There
were times when he would carry her and wipe her tears from her face.
She is a child still but at times her eyes flash at the sound of his
voice.

Let me go my own way, so you step back and without saying a word let her go, hoping that choices made are the right ones.

Atsa Biyazh, is the time of eagles being born after big snows and in
that there is a time for little eagles. In watching them on the next
way way up high it is hard to see a bird take flight, to one day decide it is time to make their own way. You see them fall time and time again, and dusting themselves off slowly crawl back up and try again; so it is with her.

Riding behind behind her, she speaks of going on alone, not listening
to anything that is said, just flashing eyes meet his and so they go
on. You want the best and sometimes you have to go with what comes. It is the way life teaches you and so you learn little by little.
Sometimes life is not so much for good times but how we deal with the hardships that come along. So it goes with daughters and flashing eyes.

Be careful and take your time, watch where you step. She steps out and goes out on her own. Along the way thoughts come that she should go another way but then this path is new to both, so they go on.
She stands near his height, and her hair is long in the way of her
grandmothers. She has a strong will and when angry has flashing eyes.
so it goes sometimes. She has a laugh and voice that carries far, she
finds the good things to say and waits for her brothers when they are
gone, standing therel watching for them. It should be so all the days
ahead for them.

She has grown up and is no longer a child, she is a woman child, still
a little girl but then turning with flashing eyes and speaking about
how she would have her own way of doing things. They ride their horses to catch the rising sun, so he follows her as she goes on ahead.
The girl rides far out ahead and little by little as they cross the
mountain of life she rides further ahead until he sees only see a
figure narrow in the distance, a mere speck on the horizon. They have
made the trek to this Sacred Mountain, and the end of his land,
Dinetah, the boundary of his world.

She turns and waves. Her motions are slow as she looks back at him and she slowly turns around and goes beyond what places he has known. The horizon has become misty and his eyes become cloudy and gentle rain falls on his hands. So it is with fathers and daughters....…