So the whole reason why I actually moved away from Utah [was] because of the cultural [aspects]. I felt disconnected in a sense, where coming from a Diné woman, I missed that part of my culture—the language and all that stuff. Here, it didn’t feel like there was one here. And there wasn’t really that many people that I associated with here, who had the same background as me. So when I found like, one other person, I clinged on to them, and I ended up finding my best friend here, who is also half Diné and she’s half Cuyahoga. And just having interactions with someone of the same background, made the entire difference. But I still decided to move, and I actually moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, because in Navajo tradition, that mountain next to Flagstaff is a sacred mountain. And I just wanted to be culturally connected to that.
And the belief is that we are protected if you live within the sacred mountains. So when I moved there, I felt this sense of peace, like a piece of my identity. And so I stayed there for nine years, but I ended up having to move away.I didn’t want to, which is really interesting. So just to get some back history on it, I’ve never actually wanted to move to Utah growing up. I never did. Everyone that I was in church with, they were like, “Oh, we’re all moving to Utah.” And a lot of the people [when they were] eighteen graduated and moved up. And people were getting married really easily. They were just like, “Oh, yeah, I’m engaged.” It terrified me. I’m like, “I don’t want to get married right now. I’m only seventeen!” So I thought that was kind of a thing. . . like, if I move up here, I’m going to get married. And it just actually scared me.