Thanksgiving means family.

Who decided that Thanksgiving should be a day of gluttony? I just know that said genius was the possessor of the Y chromosome. You know how I know this? Because it's tradition. Think about it. No woman in her right mind would celebrate a day of standing on her feet all day, cooking over a hot stove. The men, on the other hand, spend the day parked in front of the television, watching men in tight pants tackle each other. They actually get a day off to do this. What's not to celebrate?

It seems to me that Thanksgiving was funner (yes, that is a word. Leave me alone.) when I was a child. All 500 of us would all show up to Grandma's and Grandpa's house to binge as if we would never eat again. There was the requisite turkey, the stuffing, the mashed potatoes and the candied yams. I hated those yams but I loved the toasted marshmallows on top. I would gladly choke down the yams for another bite of toasted marshmallow. Then there was the frog eye salad. To this day, I will happily make an entire meal out of frog eye salad.

We would all gather around the dinner tables, which spanned the entire length of the living room. The kids would be seated in the kitchen, at the kid's table. Somewhere along the way, I graduated from the kiddy table and morphed into preparer of all things Thanksgiving .

What a ripoff.

I wish someone had told me that I should cherish every single Thanksgiving around that table. I wish someone would have said "please remember this moment because they are numbered." I doubt I would have listened, but still...

Tonight, I am a million miles away from home doing my part to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for my family. Over the years, my family has changed. We've lost a few members and we've grown by a few members. Regardless of how my family changes, each member is no less important than their predecessors. They each add that special something that just make me complete (I'm not naming names, you know who you are).

This time last year, Jaysen was deployed to the Middle East. For a year, we were missing a key person. But it was a blessing in disguise. Without that deployment, I wouldn't have met my truly fabulous 211th friends. My "wives" became my family and offered the support I needed to survive. Without them, that year would have been unbearable.

So this year, I propose a toast to my family. I miss you. I love you. And I thank God everyday that he blessed me with such a wonderful friends and family. I am truly lucky and incredibly thankful.

Cheers.