Kicking off our summer cabin season

I know most cabins in the area are open around Memorial Day, but ours always kicks off for Kentucky Derby. It is the first weekend in May and my mom's family has been doing some kind of gathering for over 15 years, although it would be longer if it wasn't considered as organized as it is today. I think the story goes that my mom remembers her dad really interested in the race for a long time. Strangely enough we aren't a race-track gambling sort of family. We love our card games, trivia games, and dominoes as well as casino games, but horse racing with the exception of the Kentucky Derby isn't something we are interested in. However, every year, it is a party date for us. We have a book that my mom has kept of all the pictures she has kept throughout the years. Most years, we noted the winner, as we draw horses in a oldest-to-youngest fashion. It is completely random as to which horse you get, but strangely enough, a lot of the people in attendance are multiple winners.

We haven't kept detailed enough records to know how we did the drawings from year-to-year. Usually there are around 20 horses to be drawn. It had been a good part of the years before the grandkids could get in on the game. So I think there were some years where we had an adult winner and a grandkid winner. Sometimes we had a "win-place-show" year so more people could win, but eventually the grandkids and the adults got to partake in the game. A few years we had to draw two fields of horses to accommodate all the people, and because of that there had been one winner that drew the winning horse twice.

Such was the case this year. Also, this was the first year that a great-grandchild has made it to the winner circle. Unfortunately, there was some heartache involved, but plenty of sympathetic ears. Trevor had a horse that was in the front pack at the beginning of the race. So he was VERY excited. Unfortunately, as is the case many years, the front horses got tired and fell to the back. Trevor was very upset. I don't think it helped that his sister won either. However, we have a list of people that have not yet won a Kentucky Derby, my mom....myself...my brother....my uncle....So while Trevor wasn't really happy to have lost, at least he had some consolation for those of us that haven't won yet, in many more years than he has been alive. Maybe next year bud!