Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving used to be a pointless holiday for me. That was until 7 yrs ago. Senior Jefe and I were dating. I thought it was getting pretty serious. I admit I was still all butterflies in my stomach whenever I saw him, because I couldn't believe someone as awesome as him was interested in me. I knew he intended to ask my Dad for my hand after Thanksgiving dinner, but I still didn't really believe it.
I drove 5 hours from where I was going to school to my sister's house, where my Dad was supposed to meet us. The weather degraded quickly that night and it was a mess getting to the airport to pick up Senior Jefe. My Dad is really racist, so I warned him in advance not to bring up the Holocaust or why he hates Jews. It made my Dad pretty stressed and anxious. Senior Jefe was also pretty stressed and anxious too for obvious reasons. Dinner was great. Conversation was a little awkward. Senior Jefe asked what he came there for and my Dad consented, though it wouldn't have made a difference to me if he hadn't.
Senior Jefe and I checked into a hotel after my Dad went home (no need to freak him out since we were Mormon) and early on Black Friday Senior Jefe and I were intimate for the first time. It was my first everything.
It may sound stupid, but Thanksgiving became an enormously important holiday for me after this. It was the first time I felt certain that things were going to work out between us and that I wasn't just going to wake up someday and find out he and us were just a dream. Every year we stop and celebrate this day, whether we are together or not. It was a perfect Thanksgiving and every year I am so damn thankful that I took my friend's bet and signed up for a dating website, that I didn't blow off Senior Jefe even though I really didn't want to meet anyone and certainly didn't want anything to do with the military, and that he was so patient with me when so many other people weren't. He really is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
This year is the first year since that first Thanksgiving that we will celebrate with other people, the first time we will host. I am excited to share my favorite holiday with my friends and with Senior Jefe.
Senior Jefe formally proposed the day after Christmas that year, but that is a story for another day.