Sitting at the Kitchen Table

When I was a kid we would drive to Tyler to visit my Granny, Aunt Judy and cousins, a huge change for me because they are all girls, and I lived with my dad and brother. Most of the time, my dad and brother would leave me with the girls while they went somewhere else for the evening. I'm still not sure where.

We would always end up sitting at their black metal and glass-topped kitchen table, just talking the night away. Talking about guys, gossiping about family, whatever. Nothing was off limits. Usually they would go to the gas station and pick up some girly beverages and cigarettes. Since I was so young, I just had some juice, but I still felt so special to be included in those girl's nights. I don't know if I even spoke a word, unless my cousin Anna asked me about boys I went to school with.

This weekend I realized that I still love sitting at the kitchen table. Bean's cousin got married this Saturday night and since it had been raining, their pasture-party reception was called off due to the massive amounts of mud and because the band cancelled. So we all went over to his Aunt's house and sat at her wooden kitchen table and talked until literally 5am. Boys were included in parts of the conversation, but the best parts were just us girls talking about those boys.

I don't know if it's the freedom to say anything, or the lack of pressure- it doesn't matter what you are wearing at the kitchen table. Maybe it's the amount of money you save on drinks. It could be just knowing that whoever is at the kitchen table loves you, even if they make fun of you. The best part for me is when you realize you completely lost track of time and stayed up almost until the sun came up, and you still don't want to leave the kitchen table.