Turkey Birthdays and other stuff

Guess what.
HapBerfDay Guys! You are so old now. Ha!(Daniel) and Ha!(Dar)

Well, if Sheldon ever gets home from work we might just get to leave for Florida for Thanksgiving. I am kind pissed that my Dad and Brothers and B-side cousins are not coming too but life does seem to get in the way sometimes. Turkey just won't be the same without them though... sigh! At least I'll be at the beach... oh wait, I don't like the beach.

Story Time:
Five years ago at Thanksgiving, Sheldon was packed and ready to go to Iraq. We had just gotten married and I was still in Denver, but he had just moved to Tennessee. I decided to take a last minute flight to see him before he left but the cheapest ticket I could find and afford was to Atlanta. My father picked me up from my midnight flight, with a cooler lovingly packed with turkey and fixings packed by Mom, to drive through the night to Sheldon's tiny apartment near the Tenn-Kentucky border where he was newly stationed. Dad and Sheldon and I spent the day of Thanksgiving cooking and watching football (guess who was cooking and guess who was watching football) in the apartment, it went by in a blur. While Dad crashed out on the couch post-turkey, we sat up all night talking. At 3 AM an alarm went off and Sheldon got up and loaded his gear into the car. I woke up dad and we loaded up the cooler full of leftovers into his car and said goodbye to Sheldon. Deployment Goodbyes are impossible. I think I cried all the way to the Georgia State Line and then finally, mercifully, fell asleep the rest of the way to Snellville. When we got back to the house Mom was waiting for us, she knew I was sad so she tried to keep it light. Dad helped Mom back up the porch steps, her early signs of ALS had already started begun to baffle us and she was walking with a cane. As he opened the front door to usher us in he said to Mom, "That was the first Thanksgiving we have ever spent apart." I will never forget that sentence as long as I live.
Sadness washed over me. At that time they had been married for 32 years.

This year, I am just thankful for that memory. Even though it is a sad story it is one of my favorite to remember because I know that my life has been filled with richness beyond measure. I hope that if you are reading this you have a great Thanksgiving and are surrounded by love and kindness.

Dibbs on the mushrooms,
V