I woke up this morning missing my dad desperately. Although we rarely see each other more than 2-3 times in a given year, I always had the ability to pick up the phone to talk to him. I value his opinion above all others, and often confer with him before making any big decision. His laptop is currently out of commission for repairs (they made him ship it back to the US from Germany and it could take up to 8 weeks for him to get it back), so I can’t even ring him on Skype. He surprised me with a call this afternoon though. We talked for about 30 minutes, but that was not nearly enough. We used to Skype every day, but are currently reduced to email or a phone call once or twice a week.
My dad is the best human being I know. I am sure that it sounds cheesy, but he is my hero and the rock of our family. Life just does not seem to run the way it should with him so far away. My dad served his country for 18 years. Upon retiring from the US Army in the mid 90′s, he chose to continue to serve as a civil servant. Now he is back in uniform and serving abroad.
I have been trying to not think about Thanksgiving too much. I can count on one hand the number of Thanksgivings our family spent apart. Although last year’s Thanksgiving holiday was a bit odd, we were together for most of the weekend. Now, as Thanksgiving is less than a week away, my heart is very heavy. While my mother, my sister, Christina (the baby) and I will be together for the holiday, I am extremely sad that my dad is going to be alone. He probably has the opportunity to share Thanksgiving with the other service men and women on base.
If you are spending this Thanksgiving with your family, make sure to hold them tight and do not forget to tell them how much you love them. In our current environment of 2 and 3 tour deployments, many service
men and women will be separated from their families during this holiday
season. If you have the opportunity to send a Thanksgiving Greeting to our Troops stationed stateside or abroad, please take the time to do so.
American Red Cross Website – send eCards and donate cell phones and care packages Deadline Dec 10
MyStudio – create and upload Thanksgiving and Christmas video message for US Troops
Let me know if there are any sites that I should add to this list. I know that Best Buy and Circuit City both had campaigns last year where you could record video messages in stores across the country. It seems that they are not hosting the program during this holiday season.
