Last week’s post was called, “No Longer Perfect.” In it, I spoke about how for the first time since I started doing my Great Quotes for Coaches podcast, I failed to release an episode on the usual day it comes out, which was Monday for the last couple of years.
Until last week, I had a great streak going. I had gone 176 episodes without missing or being late one time.
I talk about how it bothered me to have that happen because, I’m not perfect, yet in this small way, I actually had been perfect. I had been consistent in getting them out on time every week for about 170 weeks.
Well, it happened again.
Not with the podcast, though. That came out on Monday.
And not with my video. That came out on Wednesday.
No, it was with this post and with my newsletter that I send out each week with links to my podcast, video, and post for that week.
Once again, I was not perfect.
Now, I will admit that I have not had near the kind of streak with those two as I had had with the podcast.
I had been releasing my posts and newsletters on Fridays for a long time. I switched to Saturday releases a few months ago because they were being opened more when people received them on Saturdays (something I found out when I wasn’t perfect one week and they were released on Saturday instead of Friday).
Here We Go Again
Well, it’s happened again. This post and the newsletter are coming to you on Sunday instead of Saturday.
Ugh!
While I’m not happy about it, I’m not as upset with myself over this one as with last week’s.
First, like I said, I didn’t have nearly the kind of streak with these as I had with the podcast.
Also, I have a really good excuse/reason for this one.
As you know, last week I was back in Chicago seeing Bruce Springsteen at Wrigley Field and hanging out with friends & family for a few days.
I had a flight delay, then a cancellation on Saturday that led to me getting home on late-Sunday instead of late-Saturday.
Still, I got my post and newsletter out on time last week.
But this past week, I was preparing for three presentations I was set to give at the Campbell County School District in Gillette, Wyoming on Friday.
This is the 6th year in a row I have spoken there, and I have already given all of the presentations that I do except for one. So, I was working all week to prepare that one, plus two other completely unique presentations that I have never done.
Needless to say, I was focused intently on getting ready for those presentations. I figured I would do the post and the newsletter on Saturday morning.
But then, we had family plans come into the picture that altered that.
Crow Fair
My stepdaughter, Maggie, is half-white and half-Native American. She is a member of the Crow tribe.
However, she did not grow up on the Crow Reservation and only had minimal, occasional contact with anyone on the Crow side of her family until her teenage years.
It was at that time, about 18 years ago, that we went to Crow Fair.
Crow Fair is an annual celebration that the Crow have every August. It is called the Teepee Capitol of the World because pretty much the entire Crow Nation (and many other people) gather in a large area and spend five days and four nights there, many of them staying in teepees.
It is such a cool thing to see and one of the best celebrations/family reunions/events I have ever experienced.
Each day, there is a parade, rodeo, Indian Relay horse race, and a Pow-Wow with all kinds of traditional dancing.
More than anything, though, there is family, fellowship, food, and fun.
People from all over the world come to experience Crow Fair.
That year 18 years ago was my first time there, too. I was blown away by the experience and said to my family that we needed to go back often. And I truly meant it.
As we all know, though, life gets in our way of a lot of the things we want to do.
Unfortunately, we never went back.
Until this weekend.
I spoke in Gillette on Friday afternoon. Gillette is a little over 2 & 1/2 hours down I-90 from where Crow Fair is held. So, I met my family at Crow Fair on my way home from Gillette. We spent Friday night and all day Saturday there.
It was awesome!
Once again, the best part was hanging out with Maggie’s family. They are some of the friendliest and kindest people I have ever met.
It’s as if we are all part of the family, not just Maggie.
And I am always blown away by that.
We have so much division in our country between different ethnic groups, most of which is perpetuated by closed-minded people who think that for some reason because we are different, we cannot get along.
What a total crock of garbage.
I am half-Swedish and half-Norwegian.
I’m as white as white can be.
And the Crow people treated me, my wife, my son (when he went with us the first time) my sister-in-law, and Maggie’s special man-friend, Bryce (she’s 34—boyfriend sounds too young) as if we were all part of their family.
In fact, Maggie’s uncles and cousins don’t call her their niece or cousin; they consider her their daughter and their sister. These are people who have only physically been with her once or twice in their lives. Her uncles even considered Bryce as their son-in-law.
The concept of family is as strong in this culture as any that I have ever heard of, and it is evident in how all of us are treated by Maggie’s family.
There was none of the bad blood that we read about in history books and that existed for hundreds of years of our American history.
There was only fellowship, friendship, laughter, love, and Hugs. (I capitalize Hugs because that is Maggie’s Crow family’s last name. There were a lot of Hugs, as well as a lot of hugs!)
Crow Time
So I hope you will forgive me getting my post and newsletter out a day late.
I was on Crow Time the last few days.
“Whoa, Scott! You can’t say that! That’s racist!”
Chill out, my friends. Let me explain.
Any of you who have been around Native Americans for any amount of time have heard the term Indian Time.
Indian Time (or in our case Crow Time) is not considered disrespectful.
From all I have been able to learn (and I am constantly asking questions and trying to learn as much as I can about my step-family and Crow culture), Crow Time is a real thing.
Maggie’s great-aunt, Theo, who is one of the nicest, warmest, most giving people I have ever met, tells my wife all the time as we are preparing to meet them somewhere, “Sorry we’re not there yet. We’re on Crow Time, you know.”
At the afternoon dancing on Saturday, Crow Time came up again.
The dancing was scheduled to start at 1:00 in the beautiful new Arbor, which is an open-air, circular building with a covered grandstand all around a large field in the middle of it. We didn’t want to miss the Grand Entry, so we found seats in the bleachers at around 12:15.
1:00 came and there were a few of the elders and dignitaries in their seats out on the field over by the announcer’s booth.
At around 1:30, more people were in their seats and we saw more and more people in traditional dress and more of the drummers and singers positioned at their drums. The announcer started introducing some of the people.
At around 1:45, the Arbor was packed, and the dignitaries did a few preliminary dances and songs to open the day.
At around 2:00, the announcer told us about Crow Time. I can’t tell you his exact words, but he was really funny.
He told us that we non-indigenous people were now experiencing life on their time—life on Crow Time.
Crow Time seems to work something like this: We are going to have an event on Saturday afternoon. We have a scheduled time, so people have an idea as to a general time when things will be happening. But don’t get too hung up on the clock. Things will happen whenever they happen at some time in the afternoon.
At 2:25, the Grand Entry began.
That’s one hour and twenty-five minutes after the scheduled time!
And you know what?
It was AWESOME!
I saw it 18 years ago, and I saw it again yesterday, and both times it was so cool to witness and be a part of.
Who cares that it was an hour and twenty-five minutes later than the time on a schedule?
It happened, it was amazing, and everyone enjoyed it.
Ultimately, that’s really all that matters anyway, right?
A Better Way to Live?
I did a lot of thinking about Crow Time or Indian Time after that.
For those of us of European descent, we get so caught up in scheduled times.
And I get it.
When I have to open up the health club where I work at 8:00, or you have a job interview scheduled for 1:00, or we have a basketball game scheduled for 7:00, or Bruce Springsteen has a concert at Wrigley Field scheduled for 7:30, people are showing up for those things expecting them to happen then.
People are counting on being able to get in at 8:00 and get their workout in before they get on with their day.
If you show up an hour and twenty-five minutes late for an interview, chances are, you’re not getting that job.
Certain things like those demand being mindful and considerate of sticking to a schedule.
But for most things in our world, how strict do we need to be with time?
Most high school varsity basketball games start later than the scheduled time because of the lower-level games before them often going a little longer than expected.
Bruce Springsteen NEVER shouts “Hello, Chicago!” (or whatever town he’s in) and starts banging on his guitar right at 7:30.
NEVER!
It’s usually about 7:45 or 7:50 when that happens.
So, what’s the big deal?
Maybe the Crow and other Native Americans have it figured out.
Maybe Crow Time or Indian Time is actually what a lot of us actually already live by.
If not, maybe we should be.
Could it also be a healthier way to live?
Maybe we wouldn’t be so stressed out and on edge as much if we lived on Indian Time.
And maybe I wouldn’t worry so much about getting my podcast episodes, videos, blog posts, and newsletters out on time if I didn’t worry about on time and started living on Crow Time.
So, get ready.
You might see my podcast in your feed tomorrow…
Or you might not.
You might see my video on Wednesday…
Or you might not.
Yeah, I kind of like this. I kind of like the lack of stress I’m already feeling.
Okay, well that wraps this post up.
I’ll talk to you on my podcast tomorrow.
Or Tuesday.
Or Wednesday.
Or… well, you get the idea.
Crow Time
I’m lovin’ it!