Thanksgiving 2009 Adventure

Well thanksgiving has come and gone for another year.

My mother used to host Thanksgiving every year for the whole family.
She’d buy a 20 lb or more bird.

Oh, my, cleaning out the gizzards, heart and liver. Flashback to when I was young. Definitely not my favorite part of preparing the turkey! I guess I need to explain this flashback It's probably back in the early 50’s. Things were so different back then. They were such innocent days for me.

Then mom would make her special stuffing with stale bread, milk, onion, a couple of raw eggs and lots of margarine with some seasonings. Now that stuffing, packed into the 2 crevices of that big bird was the highlight of the whole meal for me. My mom preferred the gravy she made from scratch. She poured it over everything on her plate except the cranberry sauce.

Mom would cook for days before the feast; pies and vegetables of all kinds. Some of them I never knew existed except on Thanksgiving.

We’d all sit around the table, smile at each other. As we got older and married that smile was sometimes through gritted teeth. But that was the one day each year Mom insisted we call a truce on our differences and pretend we not only loved but liked each other!

The older Mom got the bigger the families became as children married and bore her grandchildren. The differences became greater also. One year Mom announced she was getting too old to cook it all by herself any longer. So we 2 daughters and 1 daughter-in-law started helping by bringing vegetables and desserts. Mom still worked her miracle on the Turkey.

I remember one day when I was in my late teens I decided to help Mom with the clean up after everyone had left. She was getting the large chunks of meat and stuffing off the bird and preparing to put the bones into a pot of water to make soup. I offered to get all the meat and dressing off the bones for her. Well, Mom had a good laugh as she saw me turning green. That was the first time I realized this was a bird and lots of weird thoughts were racing through my head. All I know is I couldn’t finish the job I had promised to do. I was feeling very sick and about to lose that wonderful meal we had earlier in the day.

One fateful year Mom took me aside. Unfortunately for me, I was the eldest daughter; my sister was 12 years younger. Mom announced it was time for me to have the Thanksgiving meals at my house. We had a bigger home, larger kitchen and everyone could fit around the table we had because it came with several extra leafs and we all fit around it. Except the children; Dad always insisted they had to sit at another table. He often said, “Children are to be seen and not heard.”

Boy, have things changed since then. I won’t get started on that.

To my dismay the mantel fell on me and I had to host the Turkey Day festivities. Cooking a large meal for a large number of people just wasn’t an easy thing for me to do. I never could get the bird to cooperate like Mom did. It would slip and slide all over the place as I tried to stuff its cavities. The bird always had to be prepared and stuffed the night before. That was Mom’s secret recipe for her fantastic bird. She’d stuff it and put it in the oven on 200 degrees and let it slowly cook under a tent of “tin” foil. In the morning she would take the tin foil (oh, today it is called aluminum foil) off the bird, turn the oven up too brown the bird and declare it done around noon time. I never was able to get the timing right either. Her delicious moist bird was dry and overcooked when I was the “chef”.

I’ll never forget the very first time I tried to bake a turkey on my own. I was 23 and pregnant with my second child. No, I was very pregnant….. no, I was extremely pregnant with my second child. I overcooked the bird and it was very brown. I was crying when my husband took a picture of me and the bird, with our almost 2 year old first born. My very first Thanksgiving Turkey was a disaster and I have it recorded for posterity.

Yes, I was very emotional that day. I gave birth to daughter number 2 the day after Thanksgiving.

Now, jump to 2009. We have blended families with 3 children, 2 spouses, 5 grandchildren with 2 spouses and 5 great grandchildren between them. Three of the grandchildren are not married with one still in high school. All great grandchildren are under 10.

Fortunately not everyone was able to make it. My son had said something about 18 people attending. I must admit I never did count how many actually showed up.

The parents of our sons’ wife are in town visiting from Chicago area. No one had a big enough home to comfortable handle 18 people.

Our son and his wife were in charge, by default I guess. They have the largest house. They had a good idea for all of us to go to Disney Worlds Polynesian Hotel for the Hawaiian Luau. Excellent idea, great food and show under a beautiful sky with the temperatures in the 70’s.

He contacted the hotel in plenty of time to make reservations. Well, there was one little glitch. Locals can’t make reservations until the deadline has passed for people staying in the hotel to make their reservations. But he was assured there would be no problem.

Yes, problem!! The hotel guests took all the reservations. Now my son is scrambling. Now what will we do? After much hunting and thinking, it was decided we would go to the Fort Wilderness Bar-B-Q. It was also, outside with a turkey meal with all the trimmings and Disney Characters. OK, sounds good. Later we realized it was a buffet. No wait staff. They did have a country band performing. We were the 3rd seating for the day at 6 pm. We were to arrive by 5:30 and take a bus to the Wilderness location. Guess I won’t be wearing the very dressy outfit I had planned on wearing.

It was decided we would spend some time with our # 2 daughter and husband that travel and work out of the area most of the year at our # 1 daughter’s house for snacks around lunch time. But she has a very small home so no body else in the extended family was invited.

My husband and I are very prompt people. She said we could come any time after 10am. We had said we would arrive around 11 am. And we did, I believe we pulled into her driveway at 10:59.

#1 daughter greeted us with a nice smile and hug.

We learned a little later she slept in till 9:30 and wasn’t ready yet. Of course her father, my husband, had skipped breakfast so he could eat at her house. It was my brilliant idea for him to do that since at 9:30 he still hadn’t eaten breakfast.

She served some salsa and chips to keep him from chewing his elbow off while she got busy preparing the rest of the snacks.

Daughter # 2 and her husband were running late. They were provisioning for their sailing trip the next day and another in January.

We snacked and waited and waited. We turned on TV but one parade was over and I guess the other was rained out.

At around 12 we thought they had arrived and unexpectedly our son, wife and in-laws dropped in. They were out riding around. They were quite surprised to see us sitting there. Fortunately they took it very well and understood the small home etc.

They were showing the parents Deanna’s home so they could see what was available and about what they can expect to pay for a home the size of daughter #1’s home.

Back to waiting for daughter #2 after son and family leave. We finally decided to play a game to pass the time. We didn’t know daughter #2 had an emergency. They arrived around 1 and the party got going. Lots of snacks and conversation.

I was so stressed by the whole situation I suddenly started crying over nothing and then started laughing almost hysterically over nothing.

I wish I could say the difficult part of the day was behind us. But no, it wasn’t.

After eating we all sat down to see pictures on a CD of daughter # 2 life the past 10 months as they traveled. My hubby and I fell asleep, not a nice thing to do.

The past few days had been very hectic and to all of a sudden stop and be relaxed and have a full stomach was too much for us. FYI, we’re 68 and find stress is harder to handle the older we get. We live with peace and quiet in our home. When we go out in public and interact with more than 2 people we stress.

We left to go to son’s house to visit with his blended family before going to Fort Wilderness at Disney World. More relaxing, but having already had a nap we were able to stay awake. We only had a half hour to visit before leaving for our seating at Fort Wilderness.

Well, come 5 pm everyone had arrived except daughter # 2 and her son # 2. Son and brother-in-law had just poured drinks and decided to finish them before leaving.

I decide not to look at my watch any more. I was not in charge so I’d just chill.
All of a sudden it was decided we really needed to leave. Daughter # 1 was asked to lead the caravan to Fort Wilderness.

Daughter # 1’s car gets in line. Then our car and where’s daughter # 2? The young family of our 2 adorable great-grand-children takes off on their own. Oh well, guess they know how to get there on their own.

Wait and wait for Daughter # 2 and husband and son, wife and Chicago visitors.

Nothing. Wait. Daughter # 1 gets out of car. What’s taking them so long, we’re going to be late for our 6 pm seating. She gets her A type personality from me.

She goes to check and see what’s up. Daughter # 2 and husband come and pull in behind us. Where’s Sons car? Oh, here they come. We start to go and then young family with 2 kids come racing towards us.

We wait and wait and daughter # 1 decides at least some of us have to be there before 6!! So she takes off so we and daughter # 2 take off. No sign of the last 2 cars. A couple of miles later they somehow caught up to us! OK, our 5 car caravan is doing fine. (Never did find out why young family came racing back. I forgot to ask!) Finally we pull onto the short cut daughter # 1 is taking us via.

We stop at stop sign and I hear a horn honking. We all go and then I notice son has turned where he’s supposed to be going straight. He’s no longer following us. We all have cell phones and no call was made that I know of. Daughter # 1 leading the caravan has no idea we have lost our son, her brother. Oh, did I tell you he has all the tickets for us to get in? No, I didn’t think so.

We arrive and there are no parking places. We loose young couple they zig when we zag. We find 3 parking spaces all together in the corner of the last row. Well that worked out real well for us.

By now we only have 10 minutes to make it for the 6 o’clock seating and we still have to get the shuttle bus to the area.

We start walking and follow the sign to the bus pick-up area. Young family catch up to us and we all decide to go to bus. Young family calls our son. “Where are you?” Son tells her we missed the turn. OK, what do you want us to do? “Wait, I’ll turn around and be there in a minute.”

Wishful thinking. His GPS took them all kinds of places but not to Fort Wilderness. (Later we learn he left the caravan in the first place because the GPS told him too. We’ve decided we’re not going to let him live this down ever. Sister # 1 works at Disney and knows their roads like the back of her hand!) Young family calls our son again. Son is lost! But he says, stay where you are I’ll be there in a minute.

OK, who believes he will be there in a minute?? You’re right. He was wrong.

We’re all stressing. As we watch the clock click closer to 6. Young family calls again for instructions. “We’re almost there.” Now child of young family who has been crying because she sees a vending machine and wants something to eat because she’s hungry (4 years old) needs to go to the bathroom. They take off looking for a bathroom.

I could feel this urge to scream welling up inside me. I finally decide nothing I can do will change the fact we are going to be late for out seating. Getting upset isn’t going to change a thing. Oh, did I tell you I’m an A type personality? Husband and I are always on time or a little early for everything we go to. We leave extra time just in case.

After what seems like an eternity, young family returns with happy smiling 4 year old precious child.

I walk up to meet them and ask have they heard anything more. “Yes, they are here and right behind us.” I don’t see anyone behind them.

I spread the news to all the others. They are here. They arrive and now we concentrate on looking for the correct bus to take us to the Bar-B-Q. Bus after bus goes by. One for yellow area and another headed to purple area.

Ah, I see a bus arrive that says Fort Wilderness. YIPPEE! By now it’s after 6. All of a sudden I see the destination of the bus change to Disney! NO!! We’re LATE, we have to get to Fort Wilderness! I scream silently to myself.

Then in the distance I see another bus that says Fort Wilderness.
Yippee, this bus didn’t change it’s destination!

Yes, this is the bus to the Thanksgiving dinner. We all jump on. OK, let’s go! It closes the doors and pulls up a few feet. The driver opens the doors and gets off and announces its destination loudly and more people slowly, get on.

By now I’m trying very hard not to stress but I’m doing a lousy job of it! Finally she gets on the bus and we take off. When we finally arrive it is 10 minutes after 6. Son announces he is going to run ahead because the tickets are only good until 6:15!!

The rest of us walk behind at different paces. Sister # 1 is stressed even more than I am. She finds a cast member and gets help because we don’t know where to go and we’re all wandering around. Fortunately the employee takes us to the corner and points in the distance to where we are to go.

Everything should be fine right? Wrong. Husband from Chicago has to go to the bathroom and heads back to the restroom. Did you ever feel like getting in the fetal position right there on the sidewalk in front of everyone and I don’t mean just our group.

Sister # 1 and brother-in-law quickly make a plan. We are told to go on. Sister # 1 goes back to outside the restroom. Brother-in-law waits at corner to see where we end up so he can instruct them how to go.

Are we having fun yet?

Son is waving come on as we and young family walk up. Son waves towards our table off in the distance. That’s were we’ll be sitting. Young family and us head to table. I hear employees say party of 10 is slowly arriving.

Would you believe it just dawned on me as I’m writing this, we only had 10 in our group!! It just seemed like 20!

We finally arrive, then daughter # 1 and her son. Husband and I go get food. Then others go get food. Before I left to get food I notice husband of young family returning with BIG plate of food. How did he do that so quick??? My head is still back on where to sit and wondering if where everyone wants to sit.

I return with my food, lost my husband somehow, hope he can find his way back on his own.

My goodness, there is young family husband coming back to the table with another big plate of food! He sure moves fast. I guess he was really hungry.

Disney characters are all over the place and the young family’s child is all excited. Lots of pictures. Almost one year old baby is wondering what is going on. She’s munching on food and quite content.

The Country band is going full swing and people are dancing all over the place. They got here an hour ago and are all through eating.

As I watch them I wonder who’s having the most fun the parents or the children. I think it was the parents!!

Everyone seems to have a great time. One the way out I heard our 4 year old wiped off Mickey Mouse’s shoe. I guess some food got spilled on it. As a result Mickey places both his hands over his heart (characters don’t speak) and hugs her and spends several minutes letting her know she was very special.

The bus ride back daughter #2’s husband asks if I had fun today. I think I said it was a memorable day and yes, it was fun. I said it was the first time I’d ever been late for a function. He couldn’t believe it and asked why my daughter #2 didn’t get that gene from me.

I don’t know – some things in life are unable to be explained.

Mom, you would have gotten a big kick out of our Thanksgiving Day this year. I miss you and dad.

It Only Takes A SPARK to Get A FIRE Going!

A while ago God spoke to me to disciple 2 women. He asked me to pour into them what He had been teaching me about Him these past several months.

The first day we met I had nothing prepared! I’d been asking God what He wanted me to do this first day.

“Nothing….. “

Then the night before the meeting when I was beginning to panic, I asked Him again, what am I to prepare for tomorrow? He said, “Ask them what they think I see when I look at them.”

Okay…..??

I had them write down their answers and they shared their answers. God took over the group. We had a fantastic time discussing what God sees when He looks at us and why.

From the beginning God just wouldn’t let me let go of the question. I would ponder it and wonder why I have this obsession. Although I didn’t know why, I asked more people to answer God’s question.

He told me to send out an email to all my Christian friends asking them to answer the question anonymously.

I started receiving answers and I thought. “This would make an interesting article.” The more I read the answers, the more God showed me that my preconceived notion of why He was having me ask this question was wrong!

Many answers I could tell were given after the person gave much thought to the question. I was amazed at what the people were saying!

God spoke to me again. This time He said, “This is not going to be an article it is going to be a book!”

HUH?? A book, written by me????

YUP, A book, written by you!

OK, how am I to put all this together into a book? SILENCE……..

Uh, Lord, I want to get writing.

What do you want me to do and how???

Um. . . . WHEN??

More silence.

I felt He wanted me to post this question on some Christian groups I discovered on Facebook.

I found and started writing and blogging on thoughts.com and asked the question there also.

Okay, Lord, I’m waiting for more direction……… please????

Then one day, when I had about given up, God gave me the next step.

Do I have to?? I’m the kind that likes to write from my heart, just let it flow. God told me to study scripture and quote it to back up what my heart was saying. I’m not one that enjoys research.

Yes, I’m really enjoying it now!

So the question for 2 ladies, and I thought would be an article for a blog is now becoming a book. . . . .written by me.

God you are so awesome!

I’ve found a publisher and hope I’m correct in targeting having the manuscript ready in March. That’s what came into my head one day.

We’ll see, you know how God is . . . . one just never knows the full picture until you have finished the project. But what an exciting journey it is!

Oh, you're probably wondering about the title of this.
The Spark is the idea from God
The Fire is the result of the Spark. In this case a BOOK!!

Update: I now have 100 or so answers to the question. If you are a Christian and would like to send your answers to this question please send them to ljc747@yahoo.com. All answers will be published anonymously so please be honest and open about your answer. I anticiapte cut off date of January 31, 2010 for submission of answers to question for book. That's not as far off as it seems!

Do You Ever Wonder About God?

It wasn't until I was 30 that I started wondering about God. Who he was etc.

In my late 20's a neighbor had come over to tell me all about Jesus and His dying on the cross for my sins so that I could be forgiven by God for my sins and have everlasting life and a personal relationship with God. I thanked her for her time and for telling me about Jesus, but I couldn't invite Him into my life because it didn't make sense to me.

So when I turned 30 it was crisis time. When younger you have such big plans for your life. Then at 30 you look at the reality of life and you realize it isn't what you expected. Personally for me I didn't like what my life was. A friend told me about a Bible Study she was going to. So my husband who had just completed a course in college on the Bible and I decided to visit the group and see if we wanted to come back. We met a lot of friendly, down to earth people. In a few weeks we were given the gospel again and in silent prayer it was suggested we pray to receive Jesus.

Well, duh! I knew I was unhappy with the way my life was going. So with my usual cocky attitude I prayed. Lord, IF YOU ARE WHO YOU SAY YOU ARE AND IF YOU REALLY ARE GOD AND REALLY DIED FOR MY SINS. If you really are, then I want to give my life to you because I'm not happy with what I've done with it. So I said, I know I am a sinner and you died for my sins so I could be forgiven and have everlasting life and a personal relationship with you. Thank you for dying for me. If you are real please come into my life. . . .

Nothing happened, I felt exactly the same as before I prayed that prayer. So I figured nothing happened. God knew my thoughts. When we started to leave the Bible Study I felt like I was walking several feet off the ground. It startled me and I looked down to see if my feet were on the ground. They were, but I wasn't. I was confused and then inside I realized it was God letting me know He had heard my prayer and had answered it.

How would God answer if you were to give your life to Him? I have no idea. God knows your heart and He knows how to let you know He has heard your prayer. If nothing else you will know because your attitude will change. Little things will change or you will do them differently. He will move at your pace when it comes to teaching you about Him.

I do suggest you read Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romand 5:8 and Romans 10:8, 9, 10, 11 and 13. If you don't have a Bible go to Biblegateway.com and look up these passages. I suggest you use the Amplified version or Living Bible. King James can be a bit difficult to understand.

As you can tell, I did not completely believe before I prayed but God made me a believer. I pray you will give God a try. In Isaiah, in the old testament, God said: "I was found by those who sought Me not. I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me."

Give God a try, what have you got to lose? What do you have to gain! Treasure unspeakable. It is life changing in a very good way. Does praying to God mean you'll never have hard times? No. Does it mean you'll be come wealthy regarding possessions and money? No, But God has a wealth that surpasses that kind of wealth. He does make several promises. One is that you will always have what you need. Not necessarily what you want, but what you need.

God reveal yourself to the person reading this in a way that He will know and will realize that you are who you say you are. When he/she gives his/her life to you he/she is set free from the bondage of the Old Testament and because of your death on the cross all sins are all forgiven and he/she now lives under the teaching of the Holy Spirit thru the New Testament. Help him/her to understand now to walk in the freedom of a New Testament Christian.

Contact me if you wish to ask questions or chat about being a Christian.

Unmet Expectations and Disappointments

WHY! I worked so hard to have this happen!
This has been a week of disappointments and unmet expectations. The two seem to go hand in hand. “You can’t have one without the other”. For you younger folks, the part in quotation marks is from a song from the 40’s.

This was a get together of a group of about 10 friends that hadn’t seen each other in a few years. I started asking them if they wanted to get together in October several weeks ago. I got a list of dates available and after some preliminary research I picked one that I felt had a good chance of working for all of them.

Communication……I thought with email it would be so easy for everyone to hit reply, say a few words and we’d all be up to speed. That expectation bit the dust. Only 1 person kept in touch. She agreed to have the group meet at her place. But my expectation of the rest was unmet. Two days before the occasion and still no commitments from some of the people and a retracted commitment from 2 others I canceled the event.

Disappointment…..Life is too hectic I guess. I finally heard from people when I canceled the event. Why didn’t they care enough to answer my frantic email’s asking if they were coming?

Anger….I’ve been made aware of the fact I have anger issues. Yes, disappointments and unmet expectations do open the door to the emotion of anger. So, what does one do about anger?

Realize it is a destructive emotion and try not to allow it to fester inside you? Put you mind on other things? Guess what, it hurts when people let you down by not meeting your expectations. I can hear, “Suck it up and get on with your life”…being said by people. True, on the scale of life it is not that important. So I’m putting it in perspective and getting on with my life.

True, it is not that important in the scheme of life.Forgive and forget…..I can forgive them….and when I think I have forgotten anger rears its ugly head and reminds me of many issues I’ve forgiven but cannot get to the forgotten stage.

Like a pack rat husband. That in all honesty I love dearly. BUT, oh no! There’s that BUT word. I hate that word. People say: yes, BUT. Which means they aren’t really saying yes. Yes, I love my husband, BUT some of his behaviors cause me anger.

Can anyone else identify with that? I know, I know, just about everyone that is married can say that about their spouse. I say I love you but (that word again) I don’t like (fill in the blank) about you.

Suck it up honey, it goes with the package. Remember “for better or worse?” You got it.

Rambling….yes, I’m rambling. You see, I write about God a lot and now I’m complaining!

Murmuring they call it in the Old Testament. Yes, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt God chose this man to be my husband. And God did a fantastic job, except for these few flaws. If the truth were known I brought a lot more flaws to this marriage than my husband did. Yet we both love each other almost unconditionally. LOL ( I love lol, maybe it should be gol – giggle out loud

Love is a decision. I choose to love this man. He chooses to love me. We each realize the other is not perfect.

Perfect….I really don’t think I could handle being married to a perfect person. Think about it.

Now, better at not doing those things that irritate me would be nice. BUT (oh no, that word again) PERFECT??? If he were perfect then all I’d have to complain about is my own imperfect qualities! SCREAM

Petrified….now that was a really scary thought. Excuse me, I have to go run and tell my husband I love him……if I can find him in all his clutter!

Oh, before I go. Friends, you know who you are, that didn’t meet my expectations. I forgive you and I love you. Let’s try again to get together after the holidays.

Oh, and before I forget, someone else does the planning this time…….

Bangor, Maine "A Day In The Life Of A Troop Greeter"

Bangor, Maine was a quiet small town that came to life in March of 1991.

I’ll never forget that day when the first plane load of troops refueled at Bangor International Airport (BIA). The leaders of Bangor knew troops would be refueling at BIA and they made all these big plans to greet the troops. What they didn’t expect was the first plane to arrive hours before it was scheduled to land. Nobody was ready!

Although it had a rocky start, the people of Maine are what really happened that day and every day after for months and is still happening today.

BIA made national TV and several articles in print have come out of it. This is an attempt to bring you into the life of a Troop Greeter. You see, in Maine March is known as the “suicide month”. Maine winters are long and by March people are sick and tired of winter and anxious for Spring to arrive. The excitement of greeting the troops as they came through Bangor took on a life of its own.

I personally became addicted to being there for every plane load that arrived. I lived in the approach to BIA and knew the sound of a Troop plane. I’d wake up throw on a T-shirt and my red, white and blue blouse; Run downstairs and turn on the outside light, open and close the outside door a few times to warn any skunks around to vacate the premises. I didn’t want to surprise a skunk and get sprayed.

I'd make a dash for the car and arrive as the troops were filing in. It wasn’t long till we “Troop Greeters” got a plan and calls were made as soon as a flight was confirmed.

I wonder how many people (greeters) will make it this hour of the morning? Normally I arrive about an hour before the flight in order to get a decent parking place and a good position in the receiving line. I have difficulty believing how many people are here already! Ah, there's a place, my secret place, not many people think to look here to park. It has plenty of lights and is near the ticket booth. No one at the ticket counters it’s way too early for any flights. As I reach the top of the stairs I see Dottie and Millie; they are just about always here before me. That Dottie, she's always smiling and happy. She's a bubbly person. Millie is sweet but a bit quieter, although I've noticed a bit of impishness about her.

HI! What's the latest on the flight? Are they on time? Did you get any sleep? Pretty good crowd for this time of night, hi, Kathy. I need yellow ribbons. United 747, with how many troops? Wow, we'll have to hustle to get them all pinned. Oh, look, a band is coming. Alright! We're going to have live music for this flight!

People just show up. As far as I know very little planning went into the greetings after the first few days.

We'd stand in line and visit with each other an hour or more waiting for the flight to arrive. The price of a good spot in line is about a one hour wait. Sometimes after paying the price, we would have someone (probably attending for the first time) come and push their way to the front and crowd us so tight we could hardly move. It was hard not to get mad. Yes, we all want to greet the troops and shake their hands, but please, pay the price. Then one day I had a man pushing and getting in front of me. I said something to him and when he told me it was his first time and he was a Viet Nam vet and this was part of his therapy, recommended by his therapist, to get over the rejection of the United States when he returned. All of a sudden being in front of him was not at all important and I felt ashamed of my behavior. The look on his face as he greeted the troops said it all. I went to another area and started pinning yellow ribbons on the troops that had already been through the line.

I got ahead of myself. When standing in line someone will spot the plane and yell! Everyone in the terminal starts cheering. We know the troops on the plane are cheering too. They are finally back on American soil. One flight attendant told me on her flight the cheering of the troops was so loud the pilot could not hear instructions from the tower!! Now, that's loud.

From the time they land it usually took 15 to 20 minutes before they enter the terminal. First timers can't understand why it's taking so long for the troops to come in. We regulars know the troops have to go through a brief customs inspection. Sometimes it takes longer because the troops are so anxious they try to get off the plane as soon as it lands. The customs people don't enter the plane till they are all seated.

The lady with the American flag, Dotty Thibedeau, is patiently waiting way down the end of the corridor. The troops come and stand behind her. At this point they begin to realize something is going on. They look and can see several people standing in line. Carl and Kathy are the first, then the American Legion color guard, auxiliary and VFW members and auxiliary.

Now someone inside the terminal spots the troops coming – this is a long hall they come down and it isn’t until they turn the corner they see the magnitude of the people waiting to greet them. OK, here they come!! The terminal starts to erupt in cheering. This is our early warning system!

I have stood up near the International building with the VFW. I was totally amazed to learn, when standing with the crowd I was wasting my time yelling till I could see the person carrying the flag. You cannot hear the crowd at the other end of the hallway. As far as the troops know, this is it. About 20 to 25 people saying "Welcome Home" and shaking their hands. Not a bad reception, really.

As the troops start getting closer to the terminal I can imagine their thoughts are something like this:

TROOP: What's the hold up? I want to call home. Someone holding an American flag is going to lead us to the phones? OK, but let's get going.

Wow, look at all the veterans that are here to greet us. This is great! This first guy's wearing a Vietnam cap. He sure didn't have this kind of reception.

All these veterans....I'm one now.

This one is really getting on in years. (Joe King, Sr. - 82 years old made every flight he could.) It sure is very thoughtful of these people to greet us. But, huh, what is that at the end of the hall? Looks like more people. Some people standing on the right in front of a table full of food and teddy bears. What's going on? They want to shake my hand too?

Golly, there's a lot of noise in this place. I hear a band playing. Lots of signs and posters saying "Welcome Home, Desert Storm Troops."

Can't go straight, too many people blocking the way, guess I'll go to the left ….what in the world!!!! There are hundreds of people cheering and grabbing my hand. Smiling, happy people saying, "Welcome Home." What….. what? . . . . This is too much to comprehend. I didn't do anything to deserve this. I was just doing my job.

She looks like Mom, I've got to have a hug. Oh, this is great. I can't keep the tears back. This is too much. America IS behind us. It's true. What we've been hearing is true. Thank God. It's nothing like it was for the Vietnam veterans.

GREETER: They're at the Troop Table. The volume level of the cheering goes up. They must be getting close now. There's Dottie carrying the American flag. As the troops round the corner and the greeters realize they made it to the terminal the noise becomes deafening!! You can hardly hear the band. The troops look stunned!

Shake each hand. Look them each in the eye... "Welcome Home." (Do they realize I really mean it?)

My husband was a Viet Nam veteran and it was very hard for him. I was the only one there to greet him when he got home – he too arrived early and he had to wait for me to drive the hours it took to get to the airport. The country was in turmoil and our Viet Nam troops were spat on and not welcomed as heroes. They were treated as villains.

Greeting the troops at BIA was cathartic for many of the Viet Nam veterans. We troop greeters did our very best to pick out the Viet Nam veterans that were also in Desert Storm. Most were in or very close to tears. A few were very angry. We troop greeters at BIA tried our level best to make up for the horrific way our Viet Nam vets were treated by making sure this never happened again.

Oh, this one is about to cry. He hugs me. The tears are trickling down his cheeks. It's hard to let go, but he has hundreds of other people waiting to welcome him home. We shouldn't hold up the line. Maybe I'll be able to find him later.

The excitement in this terminal is electric.

One time I shook so many hands in a 24-hour period my right hand hurt.

It is interesting how some of the troops' hands are soft, some calloused, some wet, others dry, some cold, some warm and some are super soft. I never noticed that much about hands before. Now and then a troop would grab my hand so tight I'd think it is going to break! I head of some of the women greeters that were sore and bruised from some of the rib-breaking hugs they received!

Glance over at the phones. The first of the troops are through the line now. I'll go start pinning on the yellow ribbons. I remind myself to be sure and look for the troop that was crying when he hugged me.

"May I pin this yellow ribbon on?" (as I'm pinning on the ribbon) "We say it is part of the uniform of all the troops that have passed through Bangor. I wouldn't want you to be out of uniform!" I try to look them in the eye and shake their hand or if they want, give them a hug, as I say, "Welcome Home."

Sure are a lot on this flight. There are Sylvia and Linda pinning as fast as they can. We have calluses’ on our index finger from pushing the pins through. (A very small price to pay.)
Millie is carrying the sign trying to find Vietnam vets for Carl to pin. You know, we make a pretty good team.

This troop wants to talk. I forget about the ribbons and give him my undivided attention. If we don't pin them in the terminal we can get them on the way out. Nice guy, trying to find the words to thank us for the greeting. The troops have difficulty finding words to describe how much they appreciate what we're doing. I understand.

Back to pinning ribbons. Check the troops' pockets. There's a troop alone, no ribbon. I approach and say, "Hi, you're out of uniform!" I love the expression on their faces when I say that. (I do have a mean streak in me.) I explain after letting him sweat a bit. "You don't have one of the official yellow ribbons yet. May I pin one on you?" Welcome Home."

Boarding call, already? Where does the time go? Run to the front of the line inside the terminal. Shake hands. I yell, "BYE. Next stop is THE one!

"These were a great bunch of troops. They sure are ecstatic now. Never did find the troop I was looking for. Some moments are so fleeting.

Here come the stragglers. Every flight seems to have a few that aren't in any hurry to leave. You try to hurry them and some say they don't care if they miss their flight. They are having too much fun. They want to stay in Bangor.

No can do! They do a head count back on the plane and come looking if troops are missing! I’ve had troops tell me they don’t have anyone to greet them when they arrive home.
Pretend I’m you Mom and give me a big hug!

Makes me extra happy to know I was there for him. Most people have never had this much attention in their lives or ever will again. We have no idea the impact we had on them.

Bye!

Wild cheering, trying to get the last of the troops on the plane. So often they want to hug everyone on their way out. I wave to them as they head up the ramp. It's amazing how many turn back and wave to the crowd over and over, till they are out of sight.

They go back out through the Veterans receiving line. Last ones they see are Carl and Kathy.
Wow, they were great!

(Then we greeters chat awhile about this group and the different things that stand out in our minds.)

"When's the next flight? In 2 hours. Has it been confirmed? Great, how about a cup of coffee at the Coffee Shop while we wait? Maybe we can help make yellow ribbons.

"Then it happens all over again and again until there are 4 or more hours between flights....
"See you guys next flight! Get some sleep!"

I've been so up for so long, I don't realize I'm tired. Now, I have to change gears and head on home. Shall I try and get some sleep or do housework? I'm usually too wired to sleep.

I left 28 hours ago, Bob is probably just getting ready for work. I'll tell him about the flights while he eats breakfast.

Hi, honey. Yes, I've been greeting the troops. As usual the flights were great. Let me tell you about this one troop..….

Today over 18 years later, there is still a contingent of people in Bangor, Maine greeting every flight coming from and going into war zones around the world.