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Thanksgiving and us.

Beginning a relationship is always interesting, especially when it comes to where you are looking to spend holidays. Every holiday seems to be a challenge and makes for interesting decisions. Thanksgiving Day 1999, the first Thanksgiving we will spend together as a family, married and amazed. She is pregnant, expecting our first baby and here I am arriving back from my first deployment. One-step at a time my entire life revolves around the woman I fell for, beautiful, perfect brown hued skin, her ancestry a mix of Japanese and African American. Our children will have my strong Scottish blood and her beautiful skin, neither of us can wait.

Everything I do is for her and the family we are starting. All I can think is youth, married young, are we ready for the steps that involve a family? Our first Thanksgiving dinner will be at her mother's house, thankfully, her mother seems to like me, and her aunts have made it abundantly clear that they love me. Why am I scared; what is a holiday really? After all, we are celebrating more than just our life together, the beginning of the greatest experiment on earth, similar to the great experiment of the country we live in. Different racial and social backgrounds combined to make one happy whole.

My parents are not sure how to handle our relationship, so I avoid the situation. Maybe when the baby comes they will be more accepting. Is life always going to be this hard, I am flying in now ready to see my wonderful wife and her baby belly, short trip to the house and we sit down to eat, enjoying the moment and each other. My parents are there but distant, her eyes are so beautiful. Everything bad fades away as I look at her again.

Thanksgiving 2001, so much has happened this year, so much time has passed. I am still enlisted, and I will not be able to make it home today. They have our entire base on lockdown still. This is the first holiday I am missing with my family. My son is going to be eating big people food, and my wife is upset about my job. All I wanted was to be able to spend the holidays with my family. Why did all of this have to happen now?

Eating alone in the mess hall, the food is decent and my mind is full. Maybe I will get a weekend pass; I put in for it three weeks ago. After dinner I walk to the phones, our calls are monitored and short. My wonderful wife answers the phone, dinner was at her mothers; my parents did not even call her. The stress is hard, but I have to be strong for her. "Things

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