Thanksgiving stories, anyone?

[Poli]

My wife and I were talking about some of our Thanksgivings of old last night.

A few pop out in my mind rather easily.

1989: My family traveled to Cades Cove, Tennessee. Cades Cove was absolutely awesome in my eyes. It was beautiful and I loved the rich history of the area. I have never been back, but I'd really like to. We stayed in a log cabin over that weekend. I can still remember my dad being aggravated that I had snuck in my Strat-o-Matic cards. On Thanksgiving, we had turkey over a fire at a park. As we were eating, light snow began to fall. Probably the last nice thing my family ever did together.

1993: Instead of eating with our families, my best friend Matt and I decide we'd rather spend the weekend playing Tecmo Super Bowl. Soda, sandwiches, and soup is all I think we had as we hid out in my house while my family was away. We got through the entire season and even put together our own Pro Bowl rosters based on that season's results. While not exactly a great Thanksgiving, it was fun.

1997: Just out of boot camp and at Great Lakes for my electronic training, rumors were rampant that we couldn't expect to have all four days off for Thanksgiving. We were likely to be mustered on Friday to make sure none of us took off. Wednesday morning we were all called in. Musters were taken. When that petty officer said, "See you on Monday" that's all it took. I raced back across the street to my barracks, hastily threw some clothes into a bag, found a ride, and hit the airport...heading for St. Louis. I essentially had five days off since all they did was muster and release us on that Wednesday.

1999: It was to be Danielle and my first Thanksgiving alone, away from the family out in Virginia Beach, VA. We had tried to make do the best we could. We were relatively poor back then. She had a job, but it wasn't going well. My Navy pay was hardly enough to survive on. Still, when the First Class Petty Officer Association asked for donations to put together 'dinners' to give to needy sailors and their families for thanksgiving, we gave some canned foods. We knew as bad as we were hurting that it could be worse. Some sailors in our position also had little boys and girls to take care of. We didn't. We gave though we knew it would hurt us. Part of me wanted to ask that association if they'd consider giving us one of the dinners, but I just couldn't do it.

For ourselves, we bought just enough to get us by. I don't believe we were even going to have a turkey. We were both missing home. It was the first time my wife had ever been away from her family for Thanksgiving.

The Wednesday before we were all excited. Rumor was they were cutting us out really early that day. Maintenance on our equipment had been done on Monday and Tuesday in anticipation. The spaces were swept and clean hoping for that 'early out'.

Meister, my boss, came into our 'space' and asked me to step outside. There beside him was a big box. Inside it was one of the Thanksgiving 'dinners' that the association had put together. They had put together three of those dinners, two of the sailors accepted, a third didn't.

Meister then handed it to me and said, "I guess this means you have to get home and put that turkey away. Get out of here."

That box had more than enough for the two of us. Inside the box was everything we could have imagined for Thanksgiving. It lasted us a week or two. Danielle and I were thrilled. It really turned that Thanksgiving around for us. It went from something we just had to get past to a very joyous occasion.

I don't know if I ever told Meister exactly what that meant for us, but I think he knew.

2002: Spent onboard the USS Nimitz. My wife was back in Missouri with her family, thankfully.

2006: Spent outside of Garissa, Kenya, near the equator. We started out the day drilling for water, but cut it off pretty early. We played some desert football, horseshoes, and Texas Hold 'Em. I was able to win the Hold 'Em, probably because the rest of those Seabees were drunk. Our Thanksgiving consisted of grilled chicken, probably our best meal out there. Most of our meals were either MREs or some sort of rice and beef. I ended that night calling home to my wife on the satellite phone.


The 1999 Thanksgiving really stands out to me. I doubt anyone truly understood just what that gift did for us. It's almost enough for me to try and look up Meister and tell him thank you nine years later.

Anyone else?