All posts by Joel L. A. Peterson

Joel Peterson is the founder and CEO of Student Planning Services, LLC and the author of the upcoming book, Dreams of My Mothers (Huff Publishing Associates, March 2015). Learn more atwww.dreamsofmymothers.com.

How My Mother and Bob Hope Taught Me the True Meaning of Christmas – by Joel L.A. Peterson

It has been fifteen Christmases since my mother passed. But, I can’t help remembering all the lessons she taught me – especially one regarding what Christmas is all about. It was Christmas Eve, 1987. I was a young naval officer and I had been at sea nearly 100 days straight escorting U.S.-flagged tankers through the Persian Gulf in the largest convoy operation since WWII. On this particular Christmas, my ship, the aircraft carrier, USS Midway, was just outside the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Iran, while Iran and Iraq were approaching their sixth year of war with each other.

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