Our Sharing Circle

A story about the ones who see you before you see yourself.

Jun 10, 2026

By: Bonnie Bluewater

“ I’m going to lose the job before I get it,” said Destiny, who was dressed in a white collared button-up blouse with brown slacks and black dress shoes since this is how one dressed to get a job, according to her older brother Benny anyway.

She was sitting in the passenger seat of Benny’s old Toyota, that always seemed to smell like a mixture of Sage and cologne, parked outside the American Indian Center (AIC) when Benny said,

“You won’t know until you go in.”

She slowly opened the door, stepped out, gaining momentum as she walked towards the building, when she heard Benny yell out “I’ll be back after I run to the store for mom,” Destiny turned her head to watch as Benny drove away. Walking into the building, there were a handful of teenagers also dressed up in similar attire which meant she was in the right place , she looked around and noticed a sign that read, Interviews with arrows pointing straight across, so she followed the arrows. The path led her into a large room with portraits and Native American arts that covered the walls with two elder women sitting on chairs going through resumes.

“Come on in,” one of them suggested as Destiny walked in immediately feeling the nerves rise, straightening her shoulders back when she cleared her throat and said, “um hi, I have an interview at ten o’clock.’”

One very tall elder male with long braided hair also dressed in a white collared short sleeve shirt and brown slacks observed her and then said “sure, you must be Destiny, “while placing his hand out, she recalled all of the advice her brother gave her in that moment, stand up straight, make eye contact and remember speak clearly and last don’t forget to have a firm handshake.

She grabbed the elder’s hand and said, “yes that’s me,” gripping his hand a little tighter than she had anticipated, when she heard what sounded like a crack.

Though he didn’t seem affected at all ,

“I’m Noel” he introduced himself, then pointed to the others, “ and this is Grace and Beatrice” as they both replied “hello.” Noel then said, “This is going to be very casual so please relax!” “Oh okay,” said Destiny.

Noel began speaking,

“Were hiring camp counselors for five weeks this summer, with the groups lasting one week each, so my first question for you is what is your experience?”

Uh oh, well Destiny didn’t have any real world experience but wanted to sound like she did, so she said, “Well I’ve done some babysitting,” she noticed all three immediately began nodding their heads, as she spoke about her very little experience, but it seemed to be working, so she continued. “ I’m also in leadership in school, and I volunteer at the hospital where my mom works.”

“Wow,” Noel said, ”that is more experience than the last four interviews we’ve had today.” The interview felt like it was going well when Grace asked a single question about Destiny’s summer plans, “Do you have any vacation plans that might take you away?”

Destiny was hoping her summer plans included the camp counselor job ,so she said, “I’m not planning anything this summer.” It was Beatrice’s turn when she asked, “Do you know CPR?” “Yes ‘”Destiny said in an excited tone, finally something she did have experience in, since she had just trained in it the week before, mandatory for all volunteers in the hospital.

Then Noel asked one last question

“Why do you want to work as a camp counselor?,”

as Destiny thought about it she wanted to say because she needed a summer job, so she can buy things she wanted, but instead she said “I want to become a counselor because I know I can help the kids like they did when I was a camper she continued, I can help them with arts and crafts, and I could share a little about our history as native people, but before she could finish Noel interrupts asking, “oh what tribe?” without hesitation said, “I’m a mixture of Pascua Yaqui, Navajo, and Apache,” Noel glanced up at Destiny and began to slightly smile and then said, “your related to Geronimo.” As she looked at Noel, she thought about it since she never heard anyone describe her as being related to Geronimo. In that moment, she held her head a little higher, smiled and then said “yeah, I am!” Noel smiled a little larger and said, “Okay Destiny, we start training this Saturday.”

As Destiny walked out of the building she found where Benny’s old Toyota was parked, she opened the door, stepped in sat down and excitedly said, “I got it Benny!”

After over a week of training, Destiny arrived at camp and the first thing that she noticed was all the children running around the booths. The booths were full of arts ,crafts and stations for beading, and while standing there, a memory raced across her mind of when she first learned how to bead.

Annie, her older sister, asked what colors you want? ,” to a much younger Destiny she replied” blue like the sky, and white,” ok now we have to be very steady,” placing her hand over Destiny’s to guide her. “Careful,” she said, lead the bead exactly where you want it to land, and that way, paused then continued, they don’t end up all over the ground” as she giggled and they completed her new bracelet together.

Standing there she looked around wondering if she would see Annie, since she was also working that year as a camp counselor . Far in the distance, there she was, working with the youngest of the children. Annie looked up for a brief second, then gave Destiny a nod, leaving her feeling a little more at ease. She was ready to find her group of campers, and when she did, she made the introduction excitedly saying, “Hey kids, I’m Destiny and I’ll be your camp counselor.”

She made sure all campers were present before she began explaining the rules to the kids as they would be going on their first hike. “You all might see wildlife and small animals, but don’t pet them, it’s not a zoo, and don’t chase them because a small animal could actually have a large mom or dad trailing not too far behind them.” she holds her composure but smiles as the kids begin laughing. The first few days felt like they were going well, the group of campers mostly knew their daily routine, waking up early then eating together, right before they began their day of activities, daily hiking, swimming, and Destiny’s favorite part of the day their sharing circle.

Their sharing circle typically began with the eldest ,who just happened to be Noel, as he explained the most important rule, whomever holds the talking stick , which was a wooden stick decorated with a single feather, blessed in sage beforehand, is the one with the voice and everyone else listens respectfully and waits until their turn to share. She enjoyed when Noel spoke reminding the group “always stay respectful to each other and mother earth, and consider the future generations, when you make decisions that you believe only affect you.”

When she heard these words come from Noel, she felt an inner strength that she hadn’t before and they would resonate within her. When it was her turn, she would try to share how the day went well with the campers and then tell a joke towards the end to make the children laugh, as she loved to hear them laugh. Later that night, as the campers were preparing for bedtime, she walked outside to view the moonlight and noticed Annie sitting alone next to the campfire, so she decided to go sit with her.

“Hey Destiny,” Annie said, “how is it going today?” she responded “I now know why you like to be a counselor Annie, looking out for every small person here, making sure that even though they have hard home lives we can do our small part, and we show up for them! As Annie Agreed “yeah, I plan on it.” Destiny replied, “me too, I think we should make a sister pact that no matter what happens in our own lives , whether you have a whole tribe of kids and I have none at all, we show up for them and show up for each other” as they both nodded in agreement, staring at the fire for a few more minutes.

Destiny realized that the camp counselor position was more than a job, it was training for everything that followed.

On the third day, as the campers began to sit in the lunch circle, Destiny noticed that one of her campers was missing. “Where’s Alex?” , now, Alex was an adventurous young boy with long black hair that blew through the wind while he would run, and typically the last camper to get in line, and the last camper to sit down for lunch. Asking the others if they’d seen him , nobody had , so she began searching. She didn’t see him with any other camper or any other counselor.

She immediately started to panic, and in that moment she remembered her mother’s words whenever she lost something, try and backtrack it’s probably the last place you used them, so she immediately checked the bathrooms, then she checked the cabins and the surrounding area, nothing, and then she went back to their last hiking path, where they observed a deer earlier that day. At that point, she was beginning to sweat and out of breath, but she walked down the path slowly, while peeling her eyes so she didn’t miss him, and there he stood , “finally!” she said while running up to him to give him a bear hug. After a few seconds, she looked at his face and made sure he wasn’t hurt but amazingly he appeared calm and mostly confused about why she was hugging him in the first place.

“Alex, I’m going to be your walking buddy from now on okay, let’s go!” she said as she walked with Alex back to the camp. When they returned together from the woods, the children were happy to see them as one camper asked, “next time, can I go on a camp mission with you two?” as Destiny breathed deeply.

Over the next few days, Destiny noticed that Alex was now always the first camper in line and he walked alongside her on all their hiking trips. On the last day of camp, the kids said their goodbyes to each other when Alex walked up to Destiny and before leaving said” I can’t wait till next year, will you be here?” she didn’t hesitate and said, “of course I will!” After the campers boarded their buses homebound, Noel walked up to her and said, “ You really made an impression on the camper’s Destiny, will you come back next year?” these words meant so much hearing them come from Noel, so she replied excitedly, “I’d be happy to!” This would lead her to return to the camp as a counselor for three more summers after that.

Destiny was accepted into Arizona State University, being the first in her family to attend higher education. Though she was excited to be emphasizing in nursing, this was the first time she wouldn’t be able to attend camp as a counselor, making her feel a little guilty, but her time would be spent learning about helping others, in a different way. While she was there for nursing, she had to choose an elective course, so she chose Documentary Films.

In that course, she expanded her knowledge base to learn about Canada’s indigenous population through a documentary titled Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, among other films. She enjoyed it so much, later in the year she became a teacher’s assistant for that course allowing her to choose some of the titles they would show.

One evening Destiny was in her dorm room, sitting at her desk, writing in her journal, when she received a call from Annie.

“Hey Destiny, what are you up to little sis?” she said in a solemn tone, “I’m good Annie ! How are you and how is Benny and Mom doing?” “They’re all fine, I wanted to call to give you some sad news today, she paused, then said Noel has passed on!” ”Destiny replied “no.”

Exactly Four days had passed, before Destiny returned home to say goodbye to Noel. There were tribes from all nations that attended both young and elders, to share stories and celebrate Noels spirit. Grace returned as well, holding the talking stick closely, with everyone present she began to speak of the years she shared with Noel at AIC, she said he was a friend, a teacher, a leader, and a brother to the entire community.

The talking stick went around the circle where each of the members provided their kind and gentle words and memories. Then it was Destiny’s turn, while breathing in, she closed her eyes and began by saying,

“Noel was the first person that I spoke with at AIC, and really made me feel at home, he was careful with his words and he seen the true me, almost immediately,

Noel, I want to say to you today, your wisdom will carry on, in me, and all of us here,” sighing deeply, then said

“Aho!”

Noel would be cremated within the next few days.

Before Destiny left, returning to Arizona State, she sat with Annie out in the night sky one last time, they shared memories of camp life, their time around the fire, their sister pact, and a memory about the missing camper.

Destiny revealed, I can’t believe I almost lost a camper, Annie laughed and said which camper did you almost lose?

Destiny replying “it was Alex,” as they both began laughing and Annie responding, “oh yeah, that would make sense!” At the end of the night, they looked at each other with tears running down their face, both still saddened by Noel’s passing, they gave each other a big bear hug then sat together in silence.

The very next summer was upon them, while the air felt brisk with the changing of the season, the familiar smell of Sage blew across Destiny’s face as she arrived at the campground. The new camp counselors were preparing for their first sharing circle. She viewed all the spaces in the circle as she stood in front of Noels’ old spot after the blessing. She noticed Alex, now a camp counselor, had a newfound strength and confidence that didn’t exist before, he smiled and handed Destiny the talking stick, she sat down and began with the rules of their sharing circle “whomever held the talking stick, holds the voice” as the children sat wide eyed and observant.

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