Greeting Loyal Airmen and a sincere thanks for your stopping by here on the day after Thanksgiving, er as it has been distastefully called in our materially obsessed world, Black Friday.  But before ranting on that particular tag, which always leaves a bad taste in the Air Chief's mouth, let's remunerate about our wonderful Thanksgiving.

This is one of those special days when we focus out attention on the real things that do matter in our lives, our family and friends.  After all it is the people in your life that actual enrich it and make it worthwhile, not the cars, the multiple iPads, or other such foolish toys we use today to dull our senses.  People, real people.
Here at Hangar 27 we were thinking about each and every one of you and how there would be no Airship 27 Productions without you. That's not just a throw away phrase, it's the truth.  We could produce all the books in the world but without you to buy them, read and enjoy them, what would be the point?  Zip. Nada. So believe me from the bottom of my heart with the Air Chief says THANK YOU.

Valerie wasted no time yesterday locking down the kitchen and starting work on this year's turkey dinner.  All too quickly the house was filled with such insane wonderful smells, everyone's stomach were soon anticipating another sumptuous meal.  Meanwhile son Alan and daughter-in-law Nicole were on the road to pick up our one guest, Matt.  He's a soldier and our granddaughter's boyfriend.  He was scheduled to have duty and at the last minute was told he didn't have to report in for the entire day.  Which left him alone and no way to get home.  When Alan learned this, he smiled, grabbed the car keys and headed for the door.  No one in our circle gets left alone on Thanksgiving.  Cora, our granddaughter works in a bakery at a local supermarket and had no idea that when she got home yesterday, Matt would be here waiting for her.

Having been politely thrown out of  the kitchen for “being in the way,” the Air Chief retreated to another room to while away few hours with a movie.  From our vast DVD collection, we opted for THE PERFECT GAME, a sports film released in 2008 that tells the true story of the Mexican Little League from the poor town of Monterey that won the Little League Championship in 1957 and the young boy who threw the only no-hitter (a perfect game) in the history of that series.  This is a story of faith, hard work and determination, of the ultimate underdogs proving any dream can come true if you want it with all your heart and soul.  The Air Chief loves positive spots movie, they inspire us to be better people and this is one of the best.  It was an excellent choice to get us in  the right Thanksgiving spirit.

Towards the second half of the movie, we set it on pause, as Valerie took a break from cooking and together we made a few phone calls back east; the first to our mother in New Hampshire.  Gabrielle Fortier is now a spry 89 and doing just fine.  She is a resident at a wonderful senior home and had just come back to her room after enjoying a huge turkey dinner.  Mom is a joy and was as ever happy to hear from us.  God did bless us with such an amazing family, that phone call meant the world to all of us.

Finally the afternoon wore on, Alan and Nicole returned with Matt, Cora ended her work shift and grandson Alex appeared from his own room ready to chow down.  Our dinner was simply fantastic as Valerie once again outdid herself.  All of us left the table a few pounds heavier.  Ha.  We aren't kidding.

That was our Thanksgiving.  Later in the evening, unable to complete avoid the Black Friday temptations, Valerie and the kids headed out to see if it were possible to find some early Christmas gifts, leaving the Air Chief to hold down the fort.  They are too familiar with our thoughts on post-Thanksgiving shopping and we were more than happy to simply kick back, have a cup of coffee and find yet a second movie to wrap up the day.  This one we found on cable.

WORDS is a recent release about a struggling young writer played by Bradley Cooper who by accident finds a fifty year old lost manuscript with no name on it.  Touched by what he reads, he becomes haunted by the book because he realizes it is far superior than anything he himself could ever write.  Thus he falls to temptation and plagiarizes the book, selling to a publisher as his own.  When the novel becomes an overnight success, his entire life changes for he believe is the better.  But of course it is all based on a lie and those have a way of eventually being exposed.  Cooper's denouement happens when an old man, deftly played by Jeremy Irons, confronts him one day in the park and reveals himself as the true author of the manuscript.

WORDS captivated us completely as being a writer, the Air Chief understands the value, the power and ultimately the beauty of words.  Over a lifetime we've written lots of them in one form or another, be it comics scripts, articles, short stories or a few novels here and there.  We write because the ability to do so is a gift from God and not to use would be a sin.  Yet, at the same time, we are constantly aware of our limitations and the cold hard truths that our talents only reach a certain level.  We've no illusions we will ever be Stephen King or John Grisham on many of those amazing writers we admire and are in awe of.  And yet we do plod on, even with our own meager skills hoping always that with each new story we do in fact get just a little better than the last time.  It's all any creative soul can aspire to and leave the rest to God. 

Which is why, on this Thanksgiving, we were moved by this brief self-reflection and once again reminded how much we do have and should never ever take for granted.  We pray all of you had a great day and wish you all a truly great holiday season ahead.

Thanks ever,
Ron – Over & Out!