TAMPA, Fla. — Thanksgiving is more than just a day to pig out on turkey. It is the start of the holiday season and millions of reunions of friends and family members at airports across the country.
At Tampa International Airport, right outside Terminal C, we watched a never-ending sea of travelers greet their loved ones with open arms.
We watched a grandma hug her granddaughter, parents reunite with their children, and friends that hadn't seen one another in years embrace like no one was watching.
"I'm really thankful I can travel and have a nice meal under a nice house on Thanksgiving," Dissaya Lorimer told ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska. Lorimer, 15, flew in with her parents from Dallas.
"Is it fun to travel with your parents?" Paluska asked.
"Yeah... I can't wait for the day I don't have to travel with them," she said with a laugh, "but it's nice."
Then came another plane, another round of passengers. This time the special reunion was with a man named Wesley Morgan, flying in to enjoy Thanksgiving with his daughter Lindsey Dewey and six-year-old grandson. But, this Thanksgiving, Morgan's wife won't be at the table. She died earlier this year.
"How great is it to come in and honor your wife's (Lynn) memory?" Paluska asked Morgan.
"It's fabulous, fabulous, and you know, thankful for everything so far and going forward as well," Morgan replied.
For them, this will be a non-traditional Thanksgiving as Dewey takes time to grieve; they are ordering food and going to stay at the beach.
"Thankful that we can be here together, that it is safe to travel; our family can take some time we need to be together and make some new traditions this year," Dewey said.
