Thanksgiving From Afghanistan

Heather Bennett, News 9 Contributor
Oklahoma Airman Serving In Afghanistan

ENTRY #7

It's hard being away for this reason right here. It's 11:20 AM and I'm not sitting at my grandparents house sneaking olives out of the can and wearing them on my finger with the little kids, but instead sitting at a bench outside with some stranger that just sat down to smoke.

I've had three Thanksgivings while in the Air Force, and have been away from my family twice. The first one was the toughest. I had never been away from home and deployed the next day to United Arab Emirates. Lucky for me, a good friend at the time invited me to her family's dinner. I'm not sure if they knew what it meant to me to share it with them, but they invited me in with open arms like one of their own kids. The crazy thing is, I know that all of my friends would do that for me. I don't know what I would do without the friends I have in my life now.

This year I don't count Thanksgiving as being missed though. We just ate it a little early, like July time-frame. Most of the time, I don't use names in these blog entries, but Courtney (SL) had that early one for me. She even cooked some of the dinner with a generator, because the roofer messed up the power. SL had the whole works going on in the house. We had a great dinner, shared some laughs, some tears and great times, and for that I want to say thank you again.

All the people there in Oklahoma City are the closest people to me, and I'm thankful for them in my life. Please don't get me wrong, I have my family here too. These people I work with everyday, who I will share this with. We will endure the holiday season together, away from our family, but together with this family. I know that the Air Force will do their best today to make it the best they can here for us, but it still sucks. If someone says it doesn't, they're full of crap.

Please don't think that my blood family is left out of this. I don't mean to brag but my family is kinda bad ass.

Happy Thanksgiving from Afghanistan,

Heather