Happy Thanksgiving to mit, yduj, and kram

Gentle Reader: you will have to indulge me as I write the following to my brothers and sister. Inasmuch as my PDA battery has died, and Big Defense Contractor doesn't allow me to store "personal" email addresses in their Outlook client, and my Address Book at swbell.net is empty (remind me to start synching my Mac to .Mac! perhaps I can keep track of folks better than this from now on), I am going to send my Thanksgiving message to my siblings via the post below. You can read it if you want to. But you don't have to if you don't.

Dear Buddees,

Since I am the furthest east of all of us, I get to celebrate Thanksgiving before any of you. Yay. It's not quite the same when you are not with family and friends. I had to fly today, from Tallil (a base in southern Iraq) to Baghdad, and tomorrow I go to Dubai. Sunday I will fly to Republic of Georgia (Caspian Sea) and I will be there a week.

I miss you all, but please know that not a day goes by that I don't think about you and your families, usually when I am saying my grace (to myself) before eating. It does not surprise me in the least to see how many soldiers bow their heads and pray before meals. Like me, perhaps they miss those they are not with ...

So Happy Thanksgiving! Indulge yourself in the things I did not get to see this year: pumpkin pie, candied yams/sweet potatoes, really good cornbread stuffing, white meat from the breast of the turkey, Waldorf salad, chocolate cream pie, and a good cup of coffee afterwards. Don't go feeling sorry for me, though: I did have turkey (although it was dark, and seemed to be reconstituted); I had dressing (ok, this is a really liberal use of the word); I had gravy (but NOT homemade); and I did have cranberry sauce (but it wasn't Ocean Spray).

I hope the Cowboys win on Thursday, and I hope the Aggies keep it respectable (or even win? ha!) on Friday.

All my love,

evetS