by Annie M Manzi

Created on: November 16, 2009

Two love struck newlyweds, beach, palm trees, friends and fun. Not exactly a traditional Thanksgiving but a memorable one. My first Thanksgiving away from home occurred right after I married my husband and we moved to Florida to work for the winter. Not only was I away from my family, I was a twenty-two hours drive from them. I was also homesick. Although I had went away to college, I was but two hours from the family driveway at any given time. There was no chance to drive there now.

I was so much in love with my new husband, but I cried daily as I missed my family greatly. My sweet husband did all he could to dull the ache, but he still had to put up with the crying jags. We had many good times, but I yearned to be back home in New York where the air was cool and crisp. I was only 21, so that even leaving my dysfunctional family to start anew was hard to do. We were both very young but we had each other.

We rented a cozy little place a few blocks from the ocean; such a romantic spot. Taking daily walks on the beach were great and there was a wonderful place for picnics in a grove of palm trees right at the edge of the beach near our apartment. We often ate at the picnic tables that were conveniently located there. It was not a stretch to have our first Thanksgiving in that piece of paradise and we decided to ask a bunch of our new friends to celebrate with us. I made the barbecue and some of the local fare of fresh fruits and vegetables while the others brought the interesting stuff to drink. It was too hot to have a heavy meal, so it was light eating and heavy drinking for some. No turkey.

It didn't take long for the boys to start showing off. First they were just plain silly. Then they started to run around like a bunch of schoolboys making the rest of us laugh ourselves silly. Then my new husband decided no one could climb a palm tree like him. He was right. I had no idea I had married a man with simian roots. He scrambled up those palms just as fast as a monkey. As he roosted up at the top, the other boys tried to do the same to no avail. I was proud in a strange sense that I had the only man who could climb those trees. Somehow it made me feel good and oddly safe.

After he had climbed all the trees in the grove, (he had to conquer them all just for me), the sun started to set and a soft glow covered the area. Soon everyone packed up and said their goodbyes. The two of us continued to sit out by the beach a while longer listening to the waves roll in and crash along the shore. It was amazing time and I forgot all about being homesick. The smell, the sounds and the love we shared during that first Thanksgiving away from home will be etched in my memory forever. I was with my family, my forever family; my husband. I did not get homesick again.

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