Thanksgiving, Thanks Giving? The Giving of Thanks!

I believe that Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays. It's not just because of the heritage of the Puritans and the Indians coming together to dine but because it gives us a chance to pause to remember why that we are thankful.

I am very thankful for my family, my home, my job and my health. I'm thankful for America even though I'm not too proud of some of the things that have happened in the past, I'm thankful that I was born here!  I'm thankful for good God fearing Christian parents that reared me in the way to go. They weren't perfect parents but they were good hearted. I'm thankful for my loving wife that has made me what I am today. I'm thankful for my two loving Son's that have given me four beautiful Grandchildren. 

Here are some of the photo's from the last Thanksgiving.

My Mother, Jewel.

My Cousin Tommy, Standing. My Mother, Jewel to the left. My Wife, Sonia Centered and my Aunt Sharon seated to the right.

My Cousin, Bradley.

My Cousin Lisa's husband, Matt.

My Aunt Sharon

My Cousin Leia, and My Cousin Lisa's Daughter, Lillian.

Here's my cousin Lisa, getting ready for Black Friday! Just like she does every Thanksgiving.

Sharon's Husband and My Uncle Fred.

Sonia & Tommy

My Mother, Jewel with her husband Ken Thornton.

They both play a mean Banjo!

So, from my family to all of yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey, what are you thankful for? Write me and let me know so that I can share it with the other readers!

Timeless or Time Less?

My Wife Sonia and I on our stay in Miami, Florida.

First, I would like to apologize to my followers for not blogging for such a long time. I have been on a new job and so adjustments have been such a hassle but I'm back and ready to blog away!

I was thinking the other day about my future. I'm now fifty two years of age and I'm in the midstream of my life. I have accomplished so much, yet so little! I have traveled but not as much as some people. I have written but who have I impressed or impacted in a positive manner?  I have enjoyed life but if I were to die tomorrow what would be my future? According to the Bible, I have accepted Christ as my personal Savior and Lord. So, when I die, I should step into the arms of my loving Lord. Right?  So what happens to my mind? What happens to my Spirit? What happens to my Soul? Will I zoom into the cosmos? Will I travel the Milky Way at my very thought? Will I see the Lord, his angels and all of my relatives that have gone before me? Will, I still be able to create? I'm not trying to be deep here, just wondering.

The above picture was me when I was at Fort Sill, Oklahoma as a lowly recruit in the United States Army. It's remarkable how that my Son's look so much like me! I was young and dumb and full of ..... you know! I was 23 and my parents, in my mind, were just old and didn't know anything. How wrong that I was. I soon learned that they were the smartest people for their ages. They taught me to be caring and kind as well as honest and hardworking.

Check out my selfies! Over the years, I have changed. Some would say that it is for the better!

Here I'm standing before the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain.

On a boat ride between the Five Villages in Northern Italy or Cinque Terra.

A stop over to have a glass of wine.

Photographing in Mallorca, Spain.

Feasting in Porte de Pollenca, Spain.

On Break!

Me and Sonia, the Love of my Life. One should always find that one that can be your friend, lover and confidant.

Fluffy at home.

On the Balcony, with NCL! Did I tell you how much I love Norwegian Cruise Lines? Book with them if you want to cruise! http://www.ncl.com

Sonia and I on the plane trip to Vegas!

We're in the Venetian at Vegas!

Test Driving a BMW at a Toyota Dealership! That's one of the things that I love to do! Test Driving cars that I will probably never, ever be able to buy!

Here is my best four legged friend in the whole wide world! Sampson is my DAWG! That is Southern for DOG! He plays with me and sleeps with me when the wife won't! Haha!

This is me playing Santa Claus at my Aunt Sharon's Party. The Young Lady is my Cousin Tommy's Fiance.

I love giving kisses! I think if the world did that there would be less war!

As you can see I like to shake up the facial hair sometimes. 

Yes! I get my hair done at Cloud Nine! I always ask for Jeremy because he does such a great job!

http://www.cloud9salonspa.com

See! I make a great Santa Claus, Don't I?

Here I am at Lunkin Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm enjoying the day and photographing with my wife and friends. 

So, you have seen the faces and the many sides of Raymond Peters.  What do you think? We are always changing our exteriors and interiors! My question to you is are you happy with where you are and what you are now?

Something Stinks......

Corporations are a lot like Vultures. From the 30 thousand foot level they look beautiful, graceful and not so big but when you see them up close they are pretty hard on the nose and the eyes.

Don't get me wrong, they do have purpose. They make a lot of money but at what expense? There are CEO's that make millions of dollars every year at our expense. We put in the hard work and time. We take the heat for mistakes and short comings of the company but there that CEO is far above the trouble on their way to their yacht in the Pacific.

You as the regular population want and even need to believe that what you are working for is a better company. You want to exceed their expectation. Many of us will even preach to our coworkers of the glories of doing a better job. We will use buzz words like focus. We have focus groups. We have "round" table meetings so that every one believes that they are equal and they can speak their minds in which you are actually being culled out secretly for your forwardness and they list it as being unprofessional. 

You can never be creative or imaginative because they have their system of doing things. They want you to sell the populace a program or a concept that will leak small change out of the clients bank accounts and credit cards in an unrealistic 4.5 minutes. 

I ask you this question. Would you trust a person that you just met and give them $12.95 out of your hard earned money every month because they served you and speedily blurted out something about monitoring you credit file?

I wouldn't.

Here is another question. If you had a man or woman that showed up an hour early every work day, worked hard, tried new ways to make the job easier for everyone, was friendly a well thought of by his coworkers, if he called another coworker dude, brother or man, would you fire him?

That is exactly what happen to a good friend of mine. He was blind sided last week by a huge corporation that if I spoke the name would be recognized immediately. 

He told them that he didn't understand. He asked them if he did his job, they agreed that he did. He asked them why they were firing him and they said that they had "heard" that he had made some remarks that were deemed unprofessional.

He told them that they were stepping on his Freedom of Speech rights and the Constitution of the United States by doing this and they simply smiled at him and said they didn't care about his Constitutional rights! 

He sat in that office with his manager and her boss as they humiliated him and singled him out.

He was a veteran of the United States Army and a Senior Citizen.

Tears flowed down his face as he left their office and was removed from the building by security.

Is this right? Is this why he served his country so that this could happen?

I ask you. What can we do to keep this from happening to another human being?

   Thank You, Mothers!

I wanted to take the time today to thank all of the Mothers for what you do.

I want to thank you for making the choice to have that child. Even though it was not the easy choice it was the best choice and the right thing to do.

 I want to thank you for all of the pain and anguish that you endured as well as the cravings for all of their weird things thru out your pregnancy.

 I wanted to thank you for the endless hours that you spent in labor, breathing and eating ice until you thought that you would go insane.

I want to thank you for the time that you took, patiently teaching us how to be us. Teaching us to comb our hair, tie our shoes, brush our teeth, clean our rooms, take out the garbage. 

Thank you for the discipline that you gave us in love so that we wouldn't do stupid things. 

Thank you for feeding us even when we spit it out and threw up on your best dress. 

Thank you for playing with us and allowing us to use our imaginations. 

Thank you for letting us fall so that you could pick us up and kiss away our tears.

Thank you for letting us go free, to make mistakes, to fly! 

Thanks for being there when our hearts hurt from the crush of that first break up.

Thanks for your love even when we do unlovely things.

Thanks for  cuddling us and making us feel better when we were sick.

Thanks for taking us to Church even when we didn't want to.

Thanks for praying for me.

Thanks for reading the Bible to me.

Thanks for taking food out of your mouth so that I could have sustenance. 

Thanks for all the great cooking!

We love you so much, Mom.

This is an appreciation to all Mothers but especially to my wonderful Mother. 

                                Jewel Irene Peters/Thornton.