raymond being a disabled veteran with p.t.s.d. was unable to read his poetry before an audiance so cindi dawson, a spoken word artist, would read several of his poems at their thursday night open mic sessions. this time slot was labeled "EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND" time . ray eventually showed up to listen and eventually announced himself and several months later started reading his own poetry, the first of which was dedicated to his two young daughters, Alexa and Christina who attended the reading not knowing why they were there. the poem was called "I had to start somewhere-------so i did" written on july 22 2008.