Sunday, November 21, 2010

THANKSGIVING AND HOME



Thanksgiving time always reminds me of a particular Thanksgiving Day.  It was my last day in Vietnam after a one-year tour of duty there in 1965-66.  Going home. For that reason alone it would have been thanksgiving day no matter what the calendar said. We observed Thanksgiving in the Chapel and then at a feast on the roof of Rex Hotel in Saigon. Thanksgiving and home. These go together.  I am thinking today of how many gifts on my thankfsgiving list each year could be listed under the word “home.”  That day in Nam I was most thankful for the family I would soon be embracing and I was thankful for my home country, the United States of America. That homecoming in 1966 was to a country torn apart by strife (as it is today), but it was home. At a stopover for refueling in Japan we walked toward the terminal and was met by a group of American school teachers who spontaneously broke out singing "God bless America, land that I love...." We knew we were almost home. Today, God continues to bless America and for that I am most grateful.  

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the Viet Nam story, haven't heard you tell very many of them. This Thanksgiving I'm very grateful for the home I shared with you and mother during my first 18 years of my life. Love to you both.

    Kathy

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