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The End

We all posed for the obligatory pictures to record the event, you know the drill Sons all here, Cousins all here, Everyone over here,do you know how to set the timer on the camera. It is a part of what you sign up for when you fly or drive to a holiday so suck it up and here you go.

Dinner

It started like many Thanksgiving dinners before, a mad rush to assemble the food at the same time. Place it on the table in a presentable manner and herd the humans to the table all at once ,hopefully. Grace was said by Gregg and we all began to dig into the food. It was a normal meal when about 10 minutes into it an envelope was being passed under the table to me I was told to hand it to Rene'. I looked at it a second and hesitated, it looked important like a bill or something with dire implication. I passed it anyway. I watched as Rene' read it and then began to cry, no one knew what was up. Then Rene' shouted that Zack had been given a full ride to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. The tears spread first to Eric, then Mom and Dad and everyone else. The young man had known for a while but told no one but his cousin Ian. The two of them had kept a secret. When the letter was passed around the table it acquired a huge amount of grease and gravy on it's edges, I read it and it stated the obivious Dear Zack we are happy to iform you that you have been accepted to: yady yady, but the thing that made me gasp was the amount the scholarship was worth $403,000 it includes a living stipend. Wow this is all this kid ever dreamed of and here we are honored to see it come to fruition. What a Thanksgiving!

Pre Dinner

Zoey had waited long enough. Sh wanted to eat and took a station at the head of the table. Determined she listened to Woody Woodpecker songs on her Ipod and would settle for nothing less than a piece of turkey on her plate.

Conversations

It was a time to meet people I had never met, catch up on topical info on people's lives and to renew a commitments to each other as siblings, son's and parents. Some talked of deep feelings, some joked, some cried and others sat and watched to events unfold. It was a low key time with everyone helping out, caring and hugging. It was a good experience.

Bop

The last person to arrive was Eric the baby of the family. He is currently in San Antonio working on his Masters degree. He hopes to pursue a career as a Physicians Assistant. School has kept him apart from his family and he was happy to see his wife Rene' and youngest son Zack .