Things I Remember

A polar bear (I love polar bears, but I am allergic to polar bear meat); my father’s slippers; my mother’s water pot; my mother’s tea kettle; my hat; a one-handed slingshot that you put a rock in (my brother made one for both of us); our dog who was half-husky and half-wolf; the yarn that my mother and I used to make the belt for my father’s caribou parka; my first fishing hook and spool of thread; my new slippers; my father’s boots for spring; a harmonica; a thermos; mosquitos that we don’t like in summertime; a leaf that we picked from the tundra and ate in the summertime; my first needle and thread; the first stretched sealskin that I made myself; male and female clams that we used to dig up at low tide; blackberries that we gathered in fall; whale tail for the women’s feast; the first fox that I cleaned and stretched by myself; the first slippers that I made from sealskin; flint and rocks used to start a fire; dried fish meat; an amauti (woman’s parka) that my mother made; bees that are dangerous; my father’s mittens for the spring; my first fish; a little game made of wood with a metal end that we would play with; a tool to get the snow off of skin clothes (this could be antler); leaves that I used to eat from willow trees; my father’s handmade knife; my first pencil and eraser; the fox trap that I used to help set; summertime flowers that I love; a drying rack (that would be used above a qulliq); my first ulu; my first duffel sock; aged walrus meat; my pet rabbit.