1/10 The #Thanksgiving when I was 13, my brothers and I had recently returned to living with my mother after our first two-year stint in foster care. Mom had recently lost a job at a canning factory because she couldn't afford to fix a broken down Chevy Vega.

2/10 There were no lights in our one-bedroom cinder block apartment. We had no phone. There was no food in the refrigerator because it was the end of the month and the food stamps had run out.

3/10 My mom arranged to meet a guy for lunch at a Chinese restaurant that day. She ordered a huge meal then just picked at her food. After a short while, she invited him back to the apartment. Somehow the car was working by then so she told him to follow her back to her place.

4/10 She took the leftovers with her. She then sped through a red light and ditched the poor fella, and those leftovers became our Thanksgiving feast.

5/10 A short time later we were living in that Chevy Vega and not long after that we were back in foster care.

6/10 Maybe you think this is a sad story. I do not. The path that got me to the good place where I am today was the right path for me.

7/10 I am thankful for a mother's sacrifices. I am thankful for loving foster parents. I am thankful for good public schools. I am thankful for various church members, coaches, teachers, and parents of friends who made a difference.

8/10 I am thankful for food stamps, government cheese, Medicaid, Pell Grants, and student loans. I am thankful to the United States Marine Corps.

9/10 I am thankful to the woman who didn't judge me based on my family antecedents. I am thankful my own children will never know such hardship.

10/10 I am #thankful to be an American representing #America on #Thanksgiving.

11/10: Then and now...