Deployment #3: Thanksgiving

Hey Everyone!

Happy Turkey Day! I hope you are all enjoying turkey, stuffings, pie, and all the other yummy things at dinner today...

We had two special guests fly out to serve us Thanksgiving Dinner today: General Petraeus, Commander of United States Central Command, and Vice Admiral Gortney, Commander of United States Fifth Fleet! I know I've talked to a couple of you about who MIGHT be coming for Thanksgiving, but I wasn't allowed to say anything until now because of security. But now I can divulge all the details! They flew in yesterday afternoon, and spent Thanksgiving with us. We had Officers Call with VADM Gortney this morning, where he offered a little insight to our mission. Just before Thanksgiving dinner started (they are serving turkey from 1100-1600, so Dad would love going back for seconds, thirds, and fourths throughout the day!) GEN Patraeus got on the 1MC (shipboard announcing system) to deliver a Thanksgiving message to all of us. I ate dinner with our CSO, OPS, and Engineering/Logistics Officer. The ship provided the basics: turkey, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, and pumpkin pie. My favorite part was the pecan pie...the crust wasn't as good as Mamaw's, but it was tasty...especially since I have the very un-American trait of detesting pumpkin pie.... And dinner this year was much better than last when I'd just gotten my braces and therefore couldn't enjoy anything except mashed potatoes. I was surprised there was no stuffing or green bean casserole...and of course the TR doesn't know about the Matsel Family's Apricot Jello Salad that is a Thanksgiving must in my family! Maybe I can petition Mama Ann to make me some for Easter when I get home! Dad, I didn't get a pre-Thanksgiving Dinner run in this morning, but I did run last night to make room for plenty of good food today! This year has also been a reflective Thanksgiving as last Thanksgiving was the last time we were all together with Gramps.

Other than that, it is business as usual out here. We have the same meetings going on and the same responsibilities. I can still hear the jets taking off, so the air wing is hard at work today. We did get some mail this morning and a package came for me to replace some of the items that the laundry thief stole. I am hoping to get to call Mamaw and Papaw's house sometime today to wish the Matsel side of the family Happy Thanksgiving...so any of you with 757 cell phones that are in Carmi this weekend, please keep your phones handy so I can try to call you!

In other good news, Patrick is now home safe and sound! He arrived back in Norfolk on the 23rd and should be home for a while! Since he was so tired from all the traveling, he decided to stay in Norfolk for Thanksgiving rather than going home to Kentucky, but he will join his parents in Louisville for Christmas in just a few weeks! Wow...can you believe December and the Christmas season are already here? Where has the time gone? It should not be much longer before I receive my orders and have formal plans for when I'll be returning Stateside...cross your fingers that it is soon! It would be the best Christmas present in the world to have a date set and be able to get home in time for my birthday in February!

Better get going now....but stay in touch!

Happy Thanksgiving!