Family Shenanigans

by Devan C.

It’s once again Thanksgiving in my favorite place to visit, Pikeville, Kentucky. Pikeville is this little town where my family’s history has left footprints in. My favorite memories start here in the “holler” where my Great Uncle Gary and my Great Aunt Violet have built a house, family, and memories. Now, I will tell you about one of my favorite memories.

We take the annual four hour anticipated drive for Thanksgiving weekend. We arrive at the dark, wood house on a gravel drive where there is smoke coming from the chimney from the fire my uncle is making inside. Shortly after, all of my cousins arrive soon after. It’s been a year since I have seen them so we have a lot of fun every year on this particular weekend. It’s now supper time and at the kitchen table you hear the sounds of Uncle Gary telling us funny jokes and stories and laughter coming from my many cousins and me. In the kitchen, you smell a delicious smell of homemade bread that Aunt Violet has made. I could never figure out when I was little why she always put the bread in the dryer. Everyone is waiting on Thanksgiving dinner, so my cousins and I decide to get in our four-wheelers and rhinos and ride up through the mountain behind their house where they own acres and acres. My cousin finds a grapevine to cut down and swing on to pass the time. My daredevil cousin is the first to go and of course falls flat on his back. It was no surprise to us, which is why he is our tester when we make possibly unsafe decisions. My cousin finds a safer grapevine to swing from. Every one of my cousins decides to try and I am the last one on and the shortest and oldest cousin might I add. Everyone landed perfectly on their feet like cats because their drop was not as big as mine because of the height difference. Therefore, I did not land on my feet and instead hopped on and swung back and forth and back and forth from each tree and couldn’t stop myself. I fell right off and landed not on my feet but on my back and rolled down the mountain until I stopped myself. We got back to the house and of course our parents weren’t happy that we returned and were covered in leaves and dirt and had the stench of outside smell. We washed up for supper and gathered around the table to pray.

You may think the story ends there, but every year there is always another fun, interesting memory to tell.