YMCA Princesses

I joined the YMCA Indian Princess program some years ago at the behest of some friends of mine that were members. This is a club for fathers and daughters and open to anyone. I balked at the institution as it didn't sound too politically correct but there were some guys there of American Indian heritage who said that it was OK so what the heck.

My elder daughter was about 9-10 or something like that and we needed to pick Indian names for ourselves. She wanted to be called "Puddin" because that's what my brother calls his wife when he wants to cork her off. We decided not to use that name and she started to think about another name. In the mean time I concluded that my name should be "Breaking Wind." 

She got a big smile and said that she wanted to be "Little Breaking Wind!" I laughed and asked if she knew what it meant. She said, "It means farts!" so if she was good with it then so was I. Some of the other dads didn't think that it was a good idea but their daughters names were "Lady Lovely Locks" or "My Little Pony" so my daughters name was a little more in tune.

We joined the Chippewa tribe and there were about 11-12 other tribes and all of the kids had their names picked out. Each tribe has a chief and the nation has a leader called Big Bear and then his name would follow. I wanted so very badly to be Big Bear because my title and name would be Big Bear Breaking Wind. It wasn't to be though as I did not make the top spot when the election came about. Maybe they knew....hmmmmmmmm...

The YMCA has the Y Indian Guides for fathers and sons. Again, we had to pick names for ourselves and since I was in the same group for the girls club, Braking Wind stuck. My son however, had a brilliant thought about a name. His was "Festering Sore" which was about the right description of little boys then so it was a go from the start. Again, the dads were a mite alarmed but it worked out for the best anyway.

The youngest comes of age and she wants to be in the Princesses too. She said that she wanted to be "Little, Little Breaking Wind" but that joke had gotten old by then so we settled on "Flaming Arrow" since she has bright red hair.

All things being equal, it was a fun time and I'm glad that I took the time to watch my kids grow up. Now if I can grow up too......who am I kidding? I may grow old but I'll never grow up!