Day 55: Cousins, Church, and Cornhole

The journey back to college continues and the day with my cousins was underway. Morning dawned at a respectable time for once. Breakfast was a sordid affair of donuts and coffee as my family grabbed whatever we could on our way out the door for church.

Church was loud and filled with passion, “hallelujahs,” and an abundance of “amens!” Between the shouts of “preach it, brother!” from the congregation a sermon on friendship and the importance of those we surround ourselves with was yelled to the rafters. After church we enjoyed a home cooked meal complete with potato salad and homemade venison jerky.

One thing that always proves interesting about my cousins is the fact that they are a very traditional southern family. Everyone goes to church (preferably Southern Baptist), watches football and Nascar all day, lives in the back country, hunts and taxidermies, cans their own food, built their own house, and speaks with a drawl. I really love them!

Cornhole is another tradition of Southern America. The game consists of two slanted boards with a hole in them, eight bean bags, and two teams of two. The object of the game is to get the most bags on the board and in the hole. We played for three hours straight while swapping stories and discussing the general goings on of extended family and home life. The games almost always ended badly for the loser and hilariously for the winner. By the time we were reached our last game, all competitiveness and any vestiges of seriousness had fled leaving us all in a shaking fit of laughter as bag after bag completely missed the board to hit our teammates on the other side.

I often wonder if this life is not that far removed from the life of the hobbits back in the Shire. Family and friends get together, drink, eat, swap stories, gossip, argue about genealogy, and participate in local traditions. Of course I always imagined the life of a hobbit to be a little bit more refined than the lives of my southern relatives (and mine when I have the privilege and joy of living with them). One of the reasons I have longed to count myself among these marvelous creatures for most of my life is the feeling of familiarity and family that seems to surround their culture. Of course with any family comes gossip and prejudice (Sackville-Baggins anyone?). This is certainly seen in my family, and I am certainly guilty of it. Slight exaggerations here, a little bit of a skewed perspective there, and a dash of playing the victim always make for a good story. And of course there is always that one relative that everyone complains about and hides from (Lobelia Sackville-Baggins being a good example). But I’m sure the hobbits would have some experience there. It’s too bad I will never get the opportunity to see how close some of my family life reflects the culture and lifestyle of Tolkien’s hobbits.

The Road Goes Ever On and On,
~ Daisy Buttons