The Christianville Spirit: Review of PTLS FAQ

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

March (Marzo) 8th, 2017- TCS # 536

Happy Potocki-Lupski Syndrome Awareness Day, My Readers! Also, known as PTLS Day for Short. Happy PTLS Day! I can now say that It has been 10 Years since The Naming of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome Officially! I am “Officially” Very Proud of My Special Needs having been Named for 10 Years! So, This Newsletter is going to first sound Not PTLS Related but, Believe Me, It is! So, It is A Little Known Tradition in Most Countries, on Their Main National Holiday like Fourth of July (Independence Day) in The United States; Canada Day in Canada; Constitution Day in Norway; or Australia Day in Australia, They have What is called a “Citizenship Ceremony” where People become New Citizens of a Country. Well, I would like to think that PTLS Day is sort of The Same Thing. Now, Yes, PTLS Day is a Celebration of People of PTLS and Their Families, but, What about New PTLS Family Members that have been Recently admitted to What I call “The PTLS Union of Families”? I would imagine it would be like a Train passing by with a Bunch of People (To You, at least for the moment; Strangers) that have Children, Young Adults, or Adults in General that look like You or Your Child and One Person grabs you and says “Welcome to The PTLS Family! Let’s Get You Admitted and Soak You In The Family!” Some Newly Admitted Family Members are Ready for It! Just rip that Bandaid off and Jump In! Others though, They are pulled on The Train and They are Lost, Panicked, and Just not Sure (Which is Understandable!). Well, I feel like PTLS Day is a Day where We stop at a Station (or at least Should), Start Admitting New Members, and Welcoming Them with Open Arms and Take them along in Their Own Pace. Some like a Slow Pace of Learning Everything about PTLS and Some hop on and say “Give Me All You Got!”. Of Course, that is Explaining The Average PTLS Family Members. The Rest, They like to just Get all The Information and Hop off The Train and Go on Their Marry Way. Although, They are Part of The PTLS Family and They are Welcome on The Train at Any Time. Anyway, Whether You are New or Just Need a Re-Fresher, or Just need Hope for a Moment,   

 I am going to Rerun one of My Gold Newsletters of The Most Common Questions or Concerns about PTLS. So, Take These Questions and Answers in Whatever Pace You like. You can read the Whole Newsletter Now or Read some of It now and Some later. I do have to Edit it a little bit because This Newsletter was originally written in May of 2015 (Refer to Newsletter 450). Enjoy and Happy PTLS Day!

So, as The Late Joan Rivers would say, “Let’s Talk” and This is a “Let’s Talk” Newsletter indeed. (Joan Rivers passed away in May of 2015 and I figured that I would honor her) As My Veterans know, I often cover the Same Thing about PTLS In Introduction but, As I say, There are always New PTLS Family Members that are “Admitted into The Union” per se. But, I am sure that There are Those who have been reading a while, or Started Reading, and are Curious about PTLS. You See, When A New PTLS Member is Admitted into The PTLS Family, To be fair, They are a Bit Scared when They come in and See what PTLS has to offer. They worry about Many Simple Things that Most People would not; PTLS is Unique! Haven’t You Heard? (breaking out in Song) Da, Da, Da Bird, Bird, Bird, Bird Is The Word! Just Kidding about The Bird, It is Family Guy Reference. Aaaannnnnyway, So I, The Caring Guy that I am, is going to try and Help both New Members and Refresh for The Standing PTLS Members. So, I’m going to take this in sort of a Political Candidate/Interview kind of Way. So, Here We Go.

First Off, I would to like Welcome You to The PTLS Family! My Name is Christian Smith-Centeno (also known as “Christian Centeno”) I am currently 29 Years Old and I have PTLS. I usually say that statement Very Proudly. Even though I edit it to My Age, Every Year, I still say it Proudly. I have had PTLS my Whole Life, Diagnosed at 3 Years Old. I was 4th In The World and 1st in The United States and through the week long research study (done Way Back then) but, that is just a Title! So, now that We have done the Introduction, Time to go for The Deep Stuff! By The Way, New Members, Please Take Your Time reading this, You don’t have to Digest It at all at Once! 

So, With New Members, They have Different Priorities when It comes to The First Question, We’ll call it, The Leap of Faith. Here We Go! 

Are You Okay?/Is My Child Going to be Okay?/ Are You at Least “Close to Typical”?: To Answer That Question. Yes, I am Okay. I am a Happy Person and Most PTLSers are Generally Happy. In Fact, They say that PTLSers have “The Happy Gene”. Second Question, This and VERY Important! Yes, Your Child Will Be Okay (Capitalized for Emphasis). Am I at least “Close to Typical”, As Good as I can be. Sometimes, It is not Easy to “Try to be Typical” because I don’t want to stand out TOO Much! I see Myself as “Unique”, In Other Words, I am Me, Simply Put.

What on Earth is PTLS?!

PTLS is shorthand of “Potocki-Lupski Syndrome”. Potocki-Lupski Syndrome is named after Two Doctors in Houston named Doctor Potocki and Doctor Lupski. and While we are at it, PTLS is NOT a Disease (It is a Disorder), It just happens. It is also worth Mentioning that Potocki-Lupski Syndrome has Autism-like Behaviors.

Oh My Lord, What do I do about Potty Training?! 

Okay, now This is My Bias Story, So it may or may not work for You. One Day, It was Raining and My Mom had a Frustrating Moment and Told Me that “The Baby down the Street needed My Diapers and I could not go in My Pants” Long Story, Short. I looked at Her like She had Two Heads and I eventually went to The Bathroom, by My Self. Needless to Say, Us PTLSers are Very Stubborn! 

Important Stuff

The Stuff I feel that You should know about us. That I consider to be Important. We are Detail Oriented (All about The Details!), Routine Oriented (as in Getting Up at Same Time and Going to Bed at The Same Time, Predictability in Life helps us focus!), We do get Overwhelmed with Too Much Noise or Activity. In Other Words, VERY Sensitive Hearing when We are Young, It does go down as We get Older. We are a bit OCD and Obsessive about Things. and, Most Importantly, We are Rule Followers, If You tell us a Rule that We will Follow It and Expect Others to Follow It. We (or at least, Myself) have an Issue with Gooey Textures or Things that Look like that. 

Eating

 That They will do at Their Own Time. I personally Ate nothing but Macaroni and Cheese, Yogurt, Apple Sauce, and Pasta most of My Childhood. PTLSers these Days, Love Fruit and Veggies. More so Fruit. So, The Next Part gets a bit split in The PTLS Family with Different View Points.

Walking and Talking (Plain and Simple) 

Usually, Anywhere around 3 Years Old, They start Walking (some earlier) and, around 4 to 5 Years Old is when PTLSers start trying to Talk (Some Earlier, Some Later, and Some Non-Verbal). It should have a Disclaimer here that, PTLSers have a range, so Those Stats are a Give or Take. But, One Thing that I want you to Know in This Segment is that PTLSers are Smarter than You realize. They soak in Everything and In Turn, They end up Mimicking What They are around. 

Schooling. Oh The Complication:

So, This is My View, so Do with It What You Will. Throughout School, My Mom made sure that I had a Good Mix of Special Ed and Regular Classrooms. The Special Ed was more for The Subjects that I needed extra help in, like Math, Writing (With an Aide), English (With An Aide), and finally Reading. Now I should mention that We are Very Literal. So, Spacial Learning is The Best Way to Go. Now, I did Regular Classrooms like Geography (With An Aide), Environmental Science (With An Aide), Aqua Science, and Art (Both Regular and Sculpture Art, without an Aide). I Will mention that Back in High School, I did a little “Job Crew” Class and I got to do something, I referred to as “Parking Lot Duty”. My Job was to Check the Big Staff Parking Lot (about 100 or so Cars) and Make Sure that Everyone was parked in the right place. I had to write The License Plate Number if They weren’t. I had 100% Compliance that Year. 

College

 So This One is a bit hard for Me. I really don’t like People who are Not Understanding asking Me if I go to College. Disclaimer Here, Your Child CAN go to College if They are Ready or Want to. Me, Personally, I did not go to College because My Math and Writing Levels were not at College Level. However, In A Way, I attempted a College Class. See, I tried to take one Online. I took a “Globalization Class” because after all, I am interested in how Geography, History, and Politics all mix together. As Crazy as it sounds, I used to think that History was boring, It had Nothing to do with Geography. Boy, Was I wrong! But, Anyway, in Said Class, I had Read from a Text Book (on The Computer), Checked out Websites They told me to Check Out, Watch The Video Lecture, and then A Knowledge Check Test. I tried One Week of It and It was a Bit Overwhelming in learning about Things that I probably should not. I did passed Two Knowledge Checks without Reading the Whole Chapter It told me to read. 

Dating. Oh Boy!

 Okay, Those of You who are wondering if I have Ever Dated, The Answer is Yes. I have had Two Girlfriends and I have been to a Homecoming Dance. By The Way, Homecoming in Texas is The Autumn Equivalent to Prom. Now, as For Future Dating, I plan on Finding The Woman of My Dreams, Bridgett (I am believing that is Her Name) and Dating Her, and Eventually, Marrying Her. 

Do I Plan on Getting Married?! 

Now, This is Not a Common Question of New PTLS Members, but I know it is One of Those Curious Questions that People are a bit afraid to ask. The Answer to This Question is Yes. Well, I think I pretty much answered that one at The End of The Last Question I answered, funny how that happens. Now, Although I do plan on Getting Married, I pray that it goes off really well. The Thought of It, I have to say, makes me Anxious. As For The Other Stuff, I do plan on that too and I hope that My Texture Issues will not flip on me. And, Final Question

 The Future

 Hard to Answer but, I know I plan on Getting Married, I plan on a Job that has Structure and Predictability in a Field that I Love, and Probably Most of All, I plan on Traveling The World to see It’s Great Beauty. All in all, With all The Questions I answered, I want you to know Most Importantly that with All The Craziness of Figuring Out PTLS along “The PTLS Highway” (Refer to “PTLS Highway” Newsletter), I Want You to know that Your Child WILL be Okay!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Give Us Opportunity and We will Meet Those Expectations

The Christianville Spirit: The History of PTLS Awareness Month-10th Year Edition

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

March (Marzo) 1st, 2017-TCS # 535

Ola, My Readers. This is New Greeting taught to Me by a Young Adult PTLSer in Portugal. “Ola” is Hello in Portuguese. New Language, New Greeting! So, Happy March Everyone! This March is just like Any Other.... Kidding. Happy Potocki-Lupski Syndrome Awareness Month or PTLS Month! That is The Official Title, By The Way. Yes, It is a Rather Long Official Title but, We are Very Proud of it. Now, For the Past Two Years, I have repeated This Story but, This Year The Following Story is More Special because It was 10 Years Ago. Yes, Really, Folks! Ten Years Ago! Funny Thing, I was in High School in My Graduation Year of 2007 when Potocki-Lupski Syndrome was Officially named. That is an Eerie Thought, as I think about it. When I think of The Time between Now and When PTLS was Named, I am amazed at All The Progress that We have made. From The Naming, to The PTLS Foundation’s Founding, to Taking PTLS Worldwide to Stockholm, Sweden; London, United Kingdom; and, Madrid, Spain. and, We are not Stopping There! We have So much more Progress to be Made in PTLS and I for One, Am Extremely Proud of Not Only having PTLS, but of Everything that We (Not just Myself and My Mom), PTLS Family Members have Done in The Past 10 Years since The Naming of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. Funny Thing, It actually was going to be named PLS, but The Name was already taken. So, For Those of You who have Heard This Story, Let’s Refresh! and, Those that are New, Rejoice with Us as We relive “The History of PTLS Awareness Month”! So, This Newsletter that I wrote about The History of PTLS Awareness Month was written back on March 5th of 2014, refer to Newsletter Number 392. Enjoy and Happy PTLS Month!

So, As You all know (or Should Know), March or “Marzo” as I like to call it, Is known as Potocki-Lupski Syndrome Awareness Month and March 8th is PTLS Awareness Day. So, What is PTLS? To give you a brief history of it, PTLS was named after Dr. Potocki and Dr. Lupski in Houston, TX. I was diagnosed with it when I was 3 Years Old and at that time, It was a called “A Duplication of Chromosome 17p11.2.” on March 8, 2007, Dr. Potocki and Dr. Lupski had it named after them. I only found out last year that exact date of it. You See, I can tell you that exact story of how I found out but, I didn’t know the exact date that it was Named. So, in honor of PTLS Month and PTLS Day, coming This Saturday, I’m going to tell you about How I found out the date, The Story of That Day, and Rewrite The Newsletter I had written that day which First Mentioned It. So, without further a due, This is The Story of PTLS Awareness Day. Happy PTLS Day to All! 

So, One Evening, I was curious and was wanting to know about when PTLS, The Name, was first mentioned, after digging through Years of My Printed Newsletter Records, I call them “My Records” for short. Thank You, Grandma Honey for Printing Them :) I read through them all the way back until March 8 of 2007. The First Time I mentioned it (and, I will show you, how I did) I had No Idea how to even spell “Potocki and Lupski”, it is a hard name to spell with such a Literal Mind that I have. As for the Day itself, I remember it quite clearly (although In My Head, At the time, I sort of over looked it). I was going to Senior High School (they have a different structure of Schooling her in Plano) It was My Final Year of High School. Because of a Screw up of My Class Schedule (They put “Job Site” near the end of The Day), So My Mom had to pick me up early because I didn’t have any classes, only the “Job Site”. Anyway, I remember us pulling out onto The Street and as We started driving up The Street, My Mom said, “Guess What?” I answered, “What?”, She followed, “Your Special Needs was Named!” she followed by telling me that Dr. Potocki & Dr. Lupski in Houston at Texas Children’s Hospital named My Special Needs, “Potocki-Lupski Syndrome” or PTLS. I thought, “Finally! I can easily explain about what I had to People!” because before it was just “A Duplication of Chromosome 17” which first of all, I had No Idea what it meant so, It was hard to explain to People and Second of All, Most People, except Medical Doctors, knew what a “Chromosome Duplication” was. So, To say that I am Thankful to Dr. Potocki and Dr. Lupski for naming it, is an Understatement. Thank You very much for all Your Hard Work, Dr. Potocki & Dr. Lupski! Now-a-days when I tell People about it, I tell them that it is Autism-like Behaviors and Very Unique. It also helps to just say it like My PTLS Sister, Danielle says it, “Just Look It Up.” Anyway, so Now I’m going to show exactly what I wrote on March 8, 2007 and I’m going to tell you it is very different from The Way I write now. To Give a You a Little Background, I was in the Middle of one of My First “Christianville Spirit Series” highlighting People that were Important to Me. 

In This Edition of The Series, happened to be about My Mom.

Newsletter for March 8, 2007: Entitled “Julie Smith-Centeno Edition”.  “CHRISTIANVILLE METRO HIGHLIGHT: Meet Julie Smith-Centeno{or Julie Centeno; whichever you call her}. Julie Smith-Centeno around my house and The City of Christianville is known as My Mom. My Mom is the sweetest and funniest person you’ll probably ever know. In fact, I’ve heard many stories that people are jealous that they don’t have a mom like my mom. My Mom is a Massage Therapist{and, they say she’s good one too} and she also teaches a Anatomy and Physiology Class; {ask her about that one} and yet she’s home enough to take care of 2 Teenage Kids, My brother Michael and myself. oh, and did i mention, she’s SINGLE MOM. yea. if Y’all were in her position i don’t know anyone would make it. but, there’s a chance but, i doubt it. but, as i was saying she’s pretty cool mom. i mean, every now and then i’ll ask her to take me on a drive somewhere because i love travel and stuff and she’ll do it. and, she enjoys it too. one time she even took me to Texarkana and back just so i could see the roads and stand on the Texas-Arkansas line. To the medical world of Houston, TX my mom might as well be known as one of The Capitols of My Special Needs. which actually has a name. It’s called Patocky-Lubsky Syndrome. What makes My Mom so funny{in case you were wondering} is that she comes up with funny sayings and jokes like everyday. so, that’s what my mom is like. the awesome mom she is.” So, as You can see There is a Lot of History behind PTLS Awareness Day! Now, that I think about it, as I was re-typing that newsletter, I’ve noticed that My Writing has changed a lot since that Time as well as The Letters that I typed were smaller than Today. All in all, This Year’s PTLS Awareness Day Motto is “Be Seen...Wear Green”, thanks to PTLS Family Member, Samantha Lamb.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Happy PTLS Awareness Day! Remember, Be Seen...Wear Green.

The Christianville Spirit: The World of Music

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

February 22nd, 2017-TCS # 534

Bonjour, My Readers! That is One of My Favorite Greetings! In Case, You did not know, It is French for Hello. So, Boy, Do I have an Interesting Story for You! So, Imagine this with Me, Okay Folks? Imagine that You wanted to listen to The Radio but, in a more Expanded Way. You wanted to listen to More than just Radio in The United States. Until The Other Day, I had never done that before, listening to a Radio Station outside of The United States. So, Here is how it happened. I was reading My Facebook Feed over and over and, I saw a Link to an Article on a Site called “Geoawesomeness”. It is basically a Site of Maps and Charts, for those like me that are Very Geography/History/Politics-mixed together minded. So, After reading The First Article, I wanted to see more Articles with Maps and Charts explaining This or That. Then, I found one that Literally Blew My Mind! A Site called Radio Garden and It is in Google Earth format with Green Dots all Over The World. Well, Those “Green Dots” were Live Streams of Radio Stations literally All over The World! Now, The only time I used to do it, If I wanted to, was think of An Area, Find a Station there, and Listen, or Use Apple’s LONG list of what They call “World Music”. After all, It is said that Music connects us all, right? If There is a Language that Everyone speaks It is in Music. hmm, Sounds like That could be One of Popi’s (My Grandpa on My Mom’s Side) Pearls of Wisdom. “The World is connected with Music”, I am pretty sure that He would say that. He did have a Degree in Music after all. Anyway, so I tested this “Radio Garden” Site and Once it started working, I was off and running like a Dog with The Gate left open! So, I started out small, My Local Area of Dallas-Fort Worth, then Atlanta at The Peak of Rush Hour, Washington DC, New York, and Cities in between, then I was ready to Hear The Music of The World. Now, Let’s bear in Mind that When Listening to The Radio anywhere You are, The Word “Music” can mean anything. Now, I know that “Talk Radio” is not always Music, but in The Radio World, Anything does at This Point. So, I went to Many Places around The World, Listened to The Language of The Country, The Tone of Voice, What it might be that They were saying, and The Type of Music that was being played. I went as far as Thailand; to India; to The Middle East; All over Europe (London, Paris, Madrid, Prague, Stockholm, and Oslo; among Many Others); The Caribbean (Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republic, and Jamaica); I took a Short Visit to Costa Rica, and Yes, They even have A Radio Station in of All places; Nuuk, Greenland! It was Interesting to say the least! So, a Few Questions that I’m sure that You are Asking, Why would You do that? What did You find The Most Interesting? What was The Most Unique Experience? and, Finally, Any Favourite Radio Stations that You found? Okay, Here are Your Questions answered!

Why would You do that?: Because I was Curious and Wanted to know what Music around The World sounded like

What did You find The Most Interesting?: Actually, Lots of Things. I noticed that There is a Surprisingly Amount of “American Music” Stations, or at least Stations that played Songs that are Hits in The United States. I even found a Country Music Station in Stockholm, Sweden. Yes, Really. Country Music, like a American Country Music, in Sweden. Yes, I know The Swedes can rock to Country Music as Much as Americans can, I just found it Funny. Other Funny or Interesting Moments, were Thai Rap in Bangkok, Thailand; Trying out Indian Music in Mumbai, India; and, Listening to a Station in Puerto Rico talk about US President, Donald Trump in Spanish. It took the Words El Presidente  and Estados Unidos to Convince Me that They were talking about The President. They did get rather Passionate as The Talk rolled on. 

Most Unique Experience: It was Interesting to Listen to What People in India refer to as “Traditional Indian Music”. I will tell you though, It is rather catchy and You can dance to It if You want to, In fact They encourage it! And, Can’t forget when I went into The Middle East, There are Some Stations that have Arabic Music and Some that are in The Best and Most Respectful Way of Explaining It, It is like Islam’s Equivalent of Christian Talk Radio. 

Any Favorite Radio Stations that I found: Well, I found Two Stations that I liked. Now, One is a American/British Music Station, “Dubai 92” out of Dubai, United Arab Emirates and The Other is an American/British (International is what They called it) and Spanish Music Station, “Cadena 100” out of Madrid, Spain. I actually listened to a Good Spanish Song that I wish I had looked up The Title and Blondie played after that and That is when It got My Attention. Yes, Spanish PTLS Family Members, I did listen to a Spanish Song (Español Musica) and You would be Very Proud! 

Anyway, all in all, It really was a Round-The-World Experience to hear The Music (and, Talk) of Different Parts of The World. So, My Advice, Check out that Site and spin The Globe and Listen to The World.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Open Your Mind to Different Types of Music.

The Christianville Spirit: Meeting The Famous Deb Remix

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

February 15th, 2017-TCS # 533

Spread Love, My Readers! and, Shout Out to My Friend, Deb on Her Birthday! Happy Birthday, Deb! Yes, I realized that I had not written a Valentine’s Day Newsletter, due to My Excitement about My Laser Hair Removal Procedure. A Little Update on that, My Hair is growing less and less on My Chin and Face, I even have a few spots with Little to No Hair on both My Face and Chin. Anyway, on to This Week’s Newsletter! I am sure that You read the following Newsletter (which I am going to Re-run) about a Special Friend of Mine. Since I did not write a Valentine’s Day Newsletter and I also wanted to honor My Friend on Her Birthday, I figured that I would do both. So, Love. It is complicated, It has Set Backs, It can be Messy, but It is so Worth It! However, There are different kinds of Love, some that are Romantic and Some that are Non-Romantic. The Romantic Side has Soulmate Love, Twin Soul Love, Love in General, and of Course, You can’t forget Young Love. The Non-Romantic Loves are Self Love, Unconditional Love, Family Love, and The Love of Friendship. For My Friend, Deb and I, It is all of them in The Non-Romantic Category. She is a Brilliant and Very Loyal Friend and Yes, I Love Her and I Love Her like Family. So, Here is a Re-run of A Newsletter (with a Little Remix) that I wrote on September 7th of 2016 (Refer to Newsletter 510) to Honor such a Great Friend that Deb is on Her Birthday. Enjoy and a Very Happy Birthday to Deb!

Great to See You, My Readers! Boy! It has been quite a Busy Year for Me this year, probably more Busy that I have been in Year’s Past. Between going to Colorado to see My Brother to A Trip (along with a little Side-Trip) to Help My Grandma Honey move! Oh, Did I forget to mention that? Yes, My Grandma Honey is Moving! Pause for Dramatic Effect! Actually, by a Very Blessed Chance, She is moving One Floor Down from where She presently lives. We figured that She would not have to climb the Stairs anymore (The Worry of that, will be Gone), and We can help her if or when She needs it, and Extra Bonus! Her Friends can go visit Her now. Well, not Now at the present moment but, In a Few Weeks. But, It will benefit us all! (Update here: Grandma Honey LOVES Her New Place and It has helped her a lot in Many Ways!) 

Anyway, so on to This Week’s Newsletter! So, in My Life, I have been Blessed (A Word not to be used lightly) to have met Brilliant People in My Life. Whether They come from My PTLS Family or Somewhere in My Personal Life. As I mentioned in Previous Newsletters, Mrs. Bachman & Mrs. James, Lynee’s Sister, and Lynee’s Mom among Many Others but This Person, I feel is More on the Not Only Brilliant side but, also Extraordinary! As In People like This Woman come Very Rarely into Your Life. You only get a Few chances of Extraordinary People in Your Life that does include Your Soulmate. Now, No I can’t tell you that I met My Future Soulmate, Bridgett but, More like a Non-Romantic Soulmate. You See, There are Soulmates as in Romantic and Non-Romantic Soulmates which could be Anyone like Your Best Friend, Your Dog, or Even a Family Member could be Your Non-Romantic Soulmate. For The Record, on The Chance that Bridgett is reading this and Wondering who This “Deb” person is, You have Nothing to Worry about! Anyway, The only way that You would know that They are Your Soulmate of any kind is that You are Pretty Much on the Same Wavelength, thinking the Same thing, Having a lot in Common, or Just Understanding each other in a Special Way. Meet My Friend, Deb. Now, I have briefly mentioned her in My Newsletters a Few Times. In the “My Brothers Moving Again!” Newsletter (Refer to that Newsletter) mentions her as “My Friend, Deb” or “The Rationale Voice of Deb”. I did mention her in a Shoutout as “My Dear Deb”. So, Besides to say that She is Extraordinary, if I have to say One Thing about Deb is that She talks, like a Lot! And, That is not necessarily a Bad Thing. She is the kind of Person that You would not say “What’s Up” followed with “Not Much or Nothing” and then, Awkward Silence for several minutes before You could find something to Talk about. If You can’t think of Something, then I guarantee that She will. I am perfectly okay with that! Because when talking to Someone, You don’t want to talk to Someone in an awkward silence is Just Awkward! You pretty much stare at them until One of You two come up with Something. With Deb, it is not like that. She is One of those People that You can talk to about Anything with. So, How did I even meet Someone like Deb? Well, I actually met her via PTLS Family Member, Kristin. I refer to Her as “My Kristin” (again, I mentioned her once in a Shoutout!). Deb is The Aunt of “My Kristin”. To be Honest, It took me a while to figure all that out. Anyway, Me and Deb have been talking on Messenger since July of 2014. She basically sent Emails to My Mom wondering if She could talk to Me. At First, I think it was because She wanted a little insight to “My Kristin’s” Son, Diddy. So, Talking about General Things and about PTLS, became talking about Deeper Topics. To say the least, Deb is led quite an Interesting Life with many Great Friends along. We stopped talking in like September of that same year and in November, I started wondering “What happened to Deb?” So, I thought, The Easiest Way for Me to remember to talk to Someone on a Regular Basis was to Schedule a Time of The Week to Talk. Again, I am Very Routine oriented! So, It helped to Have talking to Deb in My Routine, after all, Deb is a Fun Person to talk to. So, We finally started talking again and Wondered why We stopped. After a While of Talking, I figured that We would have a little fun and have a Radio-like Show that I then called “The Discussions with Deb Show”, Now known as “The Conversations with Deb Show”. Our “Radio Show” is usually on Saturdays and it lasts for 3 Hours. Between Deb and I, We have realized that Even though We talk about a lot of Different Things on Our “Show”, sometimes 3 Hours isn’t enough! So, What do We talk about? Many different things like Love/Destiny, Movies, Music, Television, Whatever is going in Life, and Of Course the Funny things that occur when Her Mom comes around. So, This is Where the Story gets interesting, so Deb’s Mom who I refer to as either “Deb’s Ma” or Just simply Ma, was following along with Deb and I were building our Bond. She grew very fond of Me and The things that Deb and I would discuss. Unfortunately, because She was aging when I first met Deb online, Ma had passed away. Now, that did not stop her from Wanting to follow along with Me and Deb. I will tell you though, Ma is probably The Strongest Angel that I have met and I am sure that in Everyone’s Lifetime, They experience or should have to experience a Strong Positive Force. There was a Time when I had to go to The Doctor’s Office and The Nurse was not Very Nice, What did Ma do? She literally shut down all of The Computers in The Whole Doctor’s Office. It was kind of Funny, I have to admit! and, then, as I left Said Doctor’s Office, All of The Computers came back on. So, Yeah, She is THAT Strong of an Angel Spirit.

Every Now and Then (It still happens from Time to Time),Where I see The 11s on Every Hour, Every Time I would look up, It would see The Hour and 11. That’s not the end of it, I see 11:11 and 1:11 and 11 (or 1s) in Most Places that I look. It really is amazing! Also, There are Times when She likes to mess with My Computer, Deb’s Phone (as well as Deb’s Family Phones), The Radio, The Lights, and Anything Electronic. To be Honest, It is quite Funny to Me when It happens. 

Anyway, Back to Deb. After Two Years of Deb and I talking online, This Weekend Deb and I finally met in Person. It kind of felt as if You were in a Long Distance Relationship and You were meeting them for The First Time. Only for Deb and I, It is a Long Distance Friend-Mate-ship. I was Very Excited and Anxious to meet Her after talk online for 2 Years.

I have a hard time even wrapping My Head around that, Deb and I actually met in Person. In case You are wondering, We did part of Our Show live after We met in Person. All in all, I am Extremely Blessed that I have Deb to talk to because She is an Awesome Person to talk to!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Everyone should have a Person like Deb in Their Life. 

The Christianville Spirit: Independence through Laser Hair Removal

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

February 8th, 2017-TCS # 532

Greetings, My Readers! So, Yesterday, I changed History as I like to say. So, Remember that Goal I mentioned at The Beginning of The Year? The Getting Laser Hair Removal, something that Who I was I kidding, I thought that I would never get or even do? Well, actually, Yesterday, I got up The Nerve to get it Done! So, a Little Background first. 

So, I am going to both Refer You to Two Newsletters that explain The Background Story as well as Share it with You.

Refer to The Following Newsletters for Some of The Background Story..

• Dents in Independence (January 2016)
• PTLS Adult Struggles (September 2014)

So, now that You have read The Background Story, I will explain The Laser Part. So, I will be The First to tell you The Honest Truth about Things, the “Dents in Independence” Newsletter was a Very Hard Newsletter for Me to Write because It basically admitted to Myself that I needed Help with Certain Things. Now, Yes, I have No Program getting help with Certain Things, but I felt that The Shaving was The One Part of Independence that I would most likely never Overcome and Something that I would always need help with unless One, I grow as My Brother refers to as a “Goatee” and Yes, In My Latter Teenage Years, I did that for a Week and It bothered Me with all the Hair, or The X Option, just Get Rid of The Hair once and for All via Something called Laser Hair Removal. Now, Being told that It was Painful REALLY did not help at all. “It is Excruciatingly Painful!”, Some of The Reviews told me and ranging to “It felt like a Rubber Band” on the more Moderate Side of The Reviews. But, I figured that If It was a Good Time to do this, It would be Now. So, Luckily, My Mom teaching to a Community College ran into a Nurse that runs a Different Segment of The Health Program that My Mom does. And, This Nurse, Ketia offered to Teach My Mom about how to do Cosmetic things like that and It would be a Way to get Me in to do Laser Hair Removal. Now, She will probably laugh at This but, When I first met Ketia, She introduced herself as Her Name but, I thought I heard pronounced like Kesha (like The Singer). Anyway, I thought that If Anything, this was My Ticket to finally get rid of The Biggest Dent in My Independence. So, She told me that She would get me in after Christmas but, due to Unseen Events in Her Family, She had to move it closer to Now. So, Monday Evening, My Mom told me that I had The Appointment in The Afternoon. This is It! I thought. The Anxiety about it had been growing because I thought it would happen The Week before. Then, after She told me, I was half Excited, half Anxious, and Half Natural at The Same Time. The Day of, of course, I was not sure if I wanted to go through with it or not because I did not know how Painful or Not Painful it would be. Due to an Event coming up This Spring, I figured that I needed to get it done now! I will honest, In My Head, I thought I was in Idiot or Stupid for Doing This Procedure. “It is an Involuntary Procedure, You don’t have to do it!” I told Myself. I thought it sounded Torturous, But, The Thing that frustrated me The Most was, that If I wanted This Dent in My Independence gone, It was either Suck It Up and Grow a Beard; Laser Hair Removal; or Waxing (which is MORE Painful). “It has to be Done, Let’s just get it Over with!” I finally said as Rationale to Myself. So, The Process, Ketia put Numbing Cream on My Face, which would really help! It is Strong Numbing Cream, so Even Better. Let’s do a Test to Show You how The Laser feels. “A Test Zap”, We will call it. After The Test, We were Set to Go, No Turning Back from Here! The Zap at first was not that Bad, until She got to The More Denser part of My Chin. “The More Dense, The Hair is in an Area The More it will Hurt but, It won’t Hurt as much in The Lesser Dense Areas”, She tries calming me down. She did it as if You were Mowing, You cut the grass in One Area and re-run it The Other Way around. and, then Repeat. Now, as She started showing her Rhythm where She was Zap up and down and Pause, then The Same again. She gave the option to pause longer if I need to, but, I figured that The Quicker We Progress, The Quicker We get Done. After We were finally Done, She gave me a Hug because I did so well. She told me many stories of People who may have not done as well. So, I finally can admit that I got it done Finally! Now, That is just Part 1, but Part 1 is the Hardest Part, Ketia tell me. “It gets less Painful as You have more Treatments” She says. Now, What is funny is that, because of The Rapid Hair Growth of Having PTLS, We don’t know If it will all be Done quickly or not. It is an Experiment to see How The PTLS Gene handles something like that. So, Is it as “Excruciatingly Painful” as They say? Well If You have Really Dense Hair Areas, then Yes. Does It feel like a Rubber Band? Well, Yes, If it is a Low Dense Area but, as a General Rule, They are Lying to You! Ketia will tell you that “It is Sightly Discomforting but, Will get better”. At least, She puts it in Lesser Way than saying, “This will Hurt a lot”, No-cebo Effect will be calming. It is Helpful that She is a Nurse (like My Mom), A Graduate Student in Psychological Counseling, and She had worked with Special Needs Adults before. So, I highly recommend her! All in all, Sometimes You have to go through a Little Pain to Gain Independence!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Determination is needed to Gain Independence!

The Christianville Spirit: The Truth about Expatriation

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

February 1st, 2017-TCS # 531

Guten tag, My Readers! Okay, that is an Actual German Greeting that means Hello. There actually is a Difference between Swiss German and Real German. Swiss German is a dialect of German, German in Switzerland is either Swiss German or “High German”, which is The German from Germany. Anyway, on to This Week’s Newsletter! So, There is something that Fascinates My Geography/Politics/History Mixed Mind. Something that More People than You think Do. A Unique Life to not only Spiced up Your life, but also Open Your Mind about The World. Something known as Ex-patting (Expatriation). Okay, so There are actually Two of that Same Concept, Expatriation and Repatriation, Moving to a Another Country and Coming Back respectively. “That’s Absurd”! “There’s NO Place like America”! “America #1”!, You would hear Americans say if You said You wanted to Expat. Okay, so, Maybe I am exaggerating The American Stereotype, but I will tell you, some Americans think that way. No Offense to Anyone in The Process! Now, I will be Honest, I kind of thought that when My Mom’s Former Student and Gal Pal, Monica was Nuts (Not in an Extreme Patriot Way though!) for Ex-patting to Stockholm, Sweden back then. After Reading The Book that I told you about Last Week Swiss Life: The 30 Things that I wish I’d Known, I kind of Understand a little more about Ex-patting. So, First, about Ex-patting, There could be Several Reasons for Ex-patting to Another Country like Needing Some Adventure or Something Different in Life, Learning about Another Culture and Soaking in that Culture, Because You may not be happy with The Way your Home Country is going, Retirement, or Most Commonly, Because Your Spouse (Husband or Wife) getting a New Job Opportunity in a New Country eventually leading to “Okay, What the Heck, Let’s Do It and See What Happens!”. Respectively, Monica and The Woman in The Book Ex-patted because of Their Husband’s Job. Now, When Monica went to Sweden, They speak much Better English and Their Nation’s Official Language, Swedish as well. Switzerland, on the other hand, has Four Official Languages, German, French, Italian, and Romansh. So that means that Anything and Everything, even Work (Hiring and Firing) works in either of Those Languages and English in there too! The Writer of The Book, Chantal Panozzo explains that The Book that in fact, You could be Hired in English and Fired in German, among Many other Things about Life in a Different Country. One Thing that I picked up that was The Most Important or Notable in Switzerland (Other than The Mountains and Neutrality) is Two Things, One is that The Swiss are Very Clean and Organized, and Two that The Swiss are Very Punctual, like to The Second, kind of Punctual. Sounds like My Kind of Place, right? Very Clean, Organized, and On Time. But, Oh! When I say Clean, I mean like In The Book, Chantal mentions that If You share a Laundry Room with Your Neighbors, They expect You to keep those things Very Clean, like No Lint in The Machine at All! The Organized Segment of The Swiss is Easy though, You walk in to a Store, Say Hallo (Swiss German is Hello), Take a Number, and Make Yourself be Known. The Segment of Being Punctual, No Worries There! Chantal mentions that The Clock Tower gongs every 15 Minutes or so. That and The Swiss Watch REALLY comes in Handy. Everything is always on Time, The Planes, The Trains, The Buses, and The People. I think The Punctuality Thing is common among Northern Europeans, because Swedes are like that too! The Thing that Shocked me The Most was Something I did not think of When It comes to Expats from The US moving to Another Country. Now, For The Record, Expats come from More than just The United States, but This is about an American Ex-patting. So, Whenever Expats live in a Another Country, Their Americans friends usually ask, What They can bring them anytime that they would like to Visit. Most usually say Peanut Butter; Anything that It is only sold in The United States; A Texan would probably say Good Mexican Food (unless You are Ex-patting to Mexico proper, in which case, You are Good!); and, Maybe a Box of Macaroni and Cheese, You never know. Chantal says that She wished for Someone who spoke American English (because They speak mainly German in Switzerland), The Wal-Mart Greeter (Because in Europe, There is No Small Talk; If You ask “What’s Up” to Europeans, They will tell you What’s Up in Detail where as Americans would say “Not Much” or “I’m Fine”), and Just Talk about Nothing (The Weather, Sports, or General Things). It made me wonder, What was going on in Monica’s Head when She ex-patted. Now, would I expat in My Life if I could, Sure Why not, for Maybe 1 or 2 Years, It would be Fun! I told Myself that If I ex-patted anywhere, I would go to Europe because it fascinates Me in Many Ways. I would expat to Stockholm, Sweden, just like Monica. When I went there, I loved it, It was clean too and like I said, They speak Brilliant English, and There is Plenty of Nature Abound! Now, Friends, as I laugh at Myself writing the Following, Don’t listen to Me! I actually did convince a Friend of My Mom and Aunt’s to move from Plano to Austin because as I told This Person, “Austin is a Cool Place!” and Apparently, She listened! So, One thought that again I never thought of, It is Nerve Racking to Expat to Another Country. But, You know what is Scarier than Expatriation? Repatriation! “It’s Home”, “Good ol’ America”! You might think. But, After You have seen The Way the Country You ex-patted to Works, You might have a Hard Time coming back to The United States. Truth be told, I have read Expat Blogs, where People Ex-patted from The United States, Only were going to Expat for maybe Two Years and After being there for Two Years, Don’t want to come back here. In Fact, Some just Expat to a Second Country (and, Yes, even Third Country) once They get tired of The First Country that They ex-patted to. Now, The Biggest Struggle that Chantal mentions is with The Distance between You and Your Family (or Friends) back here in The US. Yes, Facebook Works, Skype Works, and FaceTime Works, but as Chantal says, You can’t use All Five Senses when You talk to A Loved One on Skype. It, in a way, Lacks Connection and Love that You need. Because You should be able to Hug, Touch, and Talk to Your Loved Ones. Unfortunately, That is The Thing about Ex-patting that No One really tells you about, probably because It is Hard to admit or even Say. All in all, If You are Interested in Different Places, Read some Expat Blogs to see if It looks Interesting to You.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. The World is smaller than You think. Open Your Mind to Traveling The World. 

The Christianville Spirit: Fear of Difference

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

January 25th, 2017-TCS # 530

Howdy, My Readers! That is Texan for Hello. So, Whenever The Late Joan Rivers wanted to talk about something deep and meaningful, She was always say “Let’s Talk”. So, “Let’s Talk”. So, It really bothers me to say this but There is a lot of Hate going around across Everyone and Across The World. Blame it on The World Leaders, The New US President, or A Certain Group of People, but I would rather not. I blame it on Something that is NOT Political nor should it be. Really, It should fascinating as to Why. So, Why exactly? Because of Something called Fear. As in Fear of either another Person or Culture. Now, Fear comes in Many Ways. I hate to Watch Scary Movies, More because of Distress than Fear. You can be afraid of People of Special Needs too, believe it or not. I am not because I have Special Needs.

 Although, In High School, There was a Girl in a Wheel Chair that was, To Say The Least, Overweight, but It was because She had a Special Need called Pica, Meaning that They eat Everything and Anything, They can’t help it. Imagine that, Any Time You went Anywhere, You saw Something that You just wanted to Eat, even if It was not Food. Annyway, People including of My Friends, ridiculed her, Not having a Clue why She was Overweight, for all They knew, She was Fat (Pardon The Expression). Yes, Even I looked at Her a lot wondering Why She looked that way and I was afraid to talk to Her because of a Fear of Myself being Ridiculed. Eventually, I did get up The Nerve to talk to Her and Ask her why in The World as She like that. “Pica” She told me, It took a while for Me to figure it out but, I did not care. She and I actually became Good Friends and I would help Her with Anything that She needed. So, Yeah, Fear happens to Everyone. 

 The Biggest Fear that I feel that People have, are those of Different Cultures. Why? Well, Because of The Word, Foreign. They are Foreign, as in Not like Us. Not like Us, meaning Americans, Canadians, Europeans, and Yes, even The Group of People who We are Fearing in The First Place! We are as Scared of Them, as They are of Us. I bet That Girl I mentioned was afraid of Me coming to talk to Her and She did not know if I was going to be Supportive and Curious, or Mean and Hateful, You don’t know. You just hope for The Best. Perhaps The Reason of Fear is that We are Afraid, but at The Same Time, Curious. But, Too Afraid to ask. So, Who are You afraid of? That Brings me to the other Reason of Fear, Stereotype. Yes, Some Stereotypes are Funny because You know that Most of Them are True. 

So, Let’s do a Quick Tour of The Curious World (without Fear). So, The Top Fear of Americans would be those who seem to be Different. Whether They eat or don’t eat Certain Foods, Drink Alcohol or not, Dress and/or Look a Certain Way, Skinny or Overweight, Short or Tall. Now, Yes, There are “Bad Apples” everywhere. but, Not All People are Bad. So, Being a Worldly Person, I am trying to learn about Different Cultures, What makes us The Same and What makes us Different.

 What do I know and/or Curious about, a lot of Things, What I do know is The Media tends to stir up Fear. What I want is for People to Love each other and The World at Peace.  That Fear barrier is there for Many People. Now, That Reason Why, at least, for Me is that I would not want to ask a Question about Why People do XYZ and They get Offended. Truth is, like I said, They are as Scared of Offending Us as We are Them. It makes me wonder, What it is it about Us that They find Odd. My Guess, Our Food and Large Meals maybe? 

We have Fears but, Really it is that We are Curious about Other Cultures and Different People like for Example; I have always been curious about My Friends from India.

So, India; They have Tech Support, Bollywood (Which is an Indian Version of “Hollywood”), and Pre-Arranged Marriages. Very Interesting! But, The Things that I feel that Indians would want you to know the most is that They hold the Animal known as The Cow Sacred. And Yes, in High School, for Geography Class, We once Watched a Bollywood Movie to see what It was like and One of My Friends made us Vegetable Curry which was Really Good.

Indians, I feel, like Their Movies to be Ceremonial with Lots of Dancing. Their Weddings are Very Much like that. Now, again, I love to know about Why They hold The Cow sacred or The Dancing in The Movies. Also, Answer them as to What They would want to know about Our Culture. Exchange of Differences, Makes Great Friends. Although, not all The Time. But, You hope that it does! 

The Next Country is Thailand. Now, I am not afraid of Thailand because I want to see it personally. What I know about Thailand is that They have Great Food, Thai Royalty is a Big Deal, and Buddhism is the Religion of The Country. The Oddest Thing that I have heard that They do is that They have Festival which They feel that in order to Connect with Some of The Buddhist Gods, They stick objects in their Faces and Lips. It can get rather graphic but, They believe that that is a Way to Connect to Their Gods. Not that I would want to see it in Person but, I would be curious about Why They do that. I hope to One Day visit Thailand and to see all The Culture that They have there. 

And, Finally, We end Our Short World Tour with Asia in General. Japan is Very Technologically Advanced; South Korea is too, They have Interesting Food there to say the least. Not sure if There is much fear about Asia.

All in all, It is all about The Way You see things and Whether You let that Fear control how You see The World. So, Embrace The Good Differences of The World and Don’t be Afraid to ask Someone who is Different than You a Question about Their Culture, Appearance, or Yes, even if they have Special Needs. Just Love!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Wrap Your Arms around The World. Love Everyone!

The Christianville Spirit: About The Airplane Gods

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

January 18th, 2017-TCS # 529

Hallo, My Readers! So, This is a New Greeting and A Very Easy One! It means Hello in German, most likely Swiss German. Did I mention that My Mom’s Side of The Family is Part German and Part Italian? I think I mentioned that a Time or too. In case I have not, My Mom’s Side of The Family is German/Italian and My Dad’s Side is Part Puerto Rican. By The Way, I learned the Swiss German “Hello” from a Book I am reading about Someone Ex-patting to Switzerland, I will let you know more about it, as I continue Reading It. It is called Swiss Life: The 30 Things I Wish I’d Known If You want to Read It Yourself! So, onto This Week’s Newsletter! So, In My “Happy New Year 2017” Newsletter (Refer to That Newsletter), I had Mentioned about Hoping to Travel a lot and Something that I referred to as Airplane Gods. Now, Folks! I want to let you know now, Anything I say in This Newsletter is not to Offend or To Sound Sacrilegious, but Believe Me, Everyone has thought of This anytime They Travel. So, Airplane Gods, What are they? Most People refer to Them as “Travel Gods”, but for Me, It is Airplanes Gods. They are The Gods responsible for Preventing The Airplane Traveller from Certain Annoyances while Flying. Now, For The Record, I do not mind Flying, It is Quick, Fast, and Gets You where You need to go. Honestly, I prefer Driving, but that is just Me. In The Times that You can’t drive or It takes too Long to Drive, It is better to Fly. So, The Airplane Gods, depending on a lot of Things, can be Really Good (Hello Free Upgrade, First Class, and Window Seat. Ohhh Yeah!) to Not-So-Great (Loud or Annoying People, a Very Long Flight, and a Crying Baby and/or Toddler). So, What makes a Perfect Airplane God flight for Me. 

Well, I think My Biggest Concern with The Airplane Gods that be, are Babies and Toddlers. Now, Yes, I know Sometimes, Parents of These Kids do not have an option of Where to Sit, Although These Days, IF They want to Pay More They can select a Seat that Helps Them The Most. I am told that It is the Bulkhead on International and Front of The Plane (Average), nearest to The Bathroom for Domestic. People have Their Reasons for Why, Mine is because I don’t like People or Animals in Distress. To Me, Hearing a Baby crying or Toddler crying is them being in Distress and I feel helpless because I would like to help them. I have heard that IF You have to sit near a Baby or a Toddler, Most People say, The Baby because, There are Ways to help The Baby in both the Parents end and the Helpers end. Toddlers, not so much. they will more than likely Kick the Seat if They are Bored! So, In My Airplane God Hopes in Flying, Not sitting in Hearing Distance of a Baby or Toddler is at The Top of My List. 

So, The Second Thing on My Airplane God Hope list, Two Words, Window Seat! Now, Come on, Who doesn’t want to sit in The Window Seat? hmm, Perhaps those that are Scared of Flying. I would be happy to trade your Window Seat that You are Dreading for the Aisle Seat, Kind Sir! When I was a Kid, flying on Southwest Airlines (Good Airline!) with My Brother to San Antonio to see My Dad every other weekend, In My Little Mind, It seemed like EVERYONE wanted The Window Seat. Now, baring in Mind that It was Free Seating and Not Assigned like Most Airlines. There were Times when My Brother wanted the Window Seat and So did I, We argued about it. Sometimes, I let Michael do it and Mostly I would get it. Most Likely because He was not Interested in looking out The Window like I am. These Days though, to Get a Window Seat on Assigned-Seat Airlines, You have to Pay more! For Me though, It is worth it! I get to See where We are, See a Town and either know What Town it is or Guess What Town it is. So, as I have learned, on International Flights, Window Seats aren’t The Best because It is Hard to Sleep. or Maybe It is just me because I am so Excited about Where We are going.

That brings me to The Third thing on the Airplane God Hope List only applies to International Flights. You Must Sleeeeep Yes, Folks! For Me, It is as Hard to Sleep on a Plane as it is for Me to Sleep in The Car. This is where I hope that There aren’t Annoying People on The Flight. When We flew to London to go to Stockholm, We had People talking Very Loudly and Kicking My Seat. When We flew to Madrid on Iberia, My Mom and I got to have a Bonus of NO Middle Seat! It was actually Two Seats-Four Seats-Two Seats. It was hard for Me to Sleep even meeting most of My Hopes. 

And, Finally, Let’s talk about The Final Thing on the Airplane God Hope List. Extras In an Ultimate Dream, I would Love to Ride in Business or First Class going on an International Flight. I would Love to Ride on a Double-Decker Airplane to really get a feel of How Big It Is! When It comes to Boarding The Plane, It take me a little longer to get in and get situated and It can bring some Anxiety, so I have now started boarding The Plane first so that I can get My Self Situated and that has really helped to calm My Anxiety of trying to get situated without People getting upset with Me. Now, I don’t have to Worry about People trampling Me because I am slower when I am getting My Stuff up. All in all, That is My Airplane Gods Hope List. What’s Yours?

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Next Time You have to Fly, Talk to The Airplane Gods

The Christianville Spirit: The Three Pillars of Faith

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

January 11th, 2017-TCS # 528

Aloha, My Readers! That is New Greeting or At Least, I think it is anyway. In case It is a New Greeting, It means Hello in Hawaiian. So, I am sure that You remember me mentioning very briefly in My 2016 Year-In-Review about a Relative of a PTLS Family Member passing away. So, As Hard as It is to Write a Newsletter about This Person, because This Person named Faith was a Person of Utter Brilliance. To be Honest, I am a little bit in disbelief that Such a Person like Faith passed away. You See, She actually passed in November of Last Year but, Because it was The Holidays, I did not want to dampen The PTLS Family Members’ Christmas, and I did not want to write about Something Depressing during The Holidays and Out of Respect for Her Family. It kinda dampened My Own Holiday in some way because She was that Amazing. Yes, Folks! THAT Amazing, up there with a few like My Mom; Lynee’s Mom, Dona; and, Faith. So, What gave me This Idea, to write about Her? Well, One because I saw that Newsletter that I had written about My Mom’s High School Friend, Cindy Lockwood (Refer to That Newsletter), and Two because I feel that Faith herself deserves this. I am going to tell you, not of Her Passing but, What She was either Good at or Loved to do. I present to You what I am referring to as “The Three Pillars of Faith”. 

So, Faith Thompson, Mother of PTLS Member, Danielle and Daughter, Melissa, to Top all Things, The First Pillar, Family and PTLS. The One major thing that She absolutely lived for was Her Family. Sure, She loved Everyone including Her Loving Husband and Two Daughters, but, She loved someone more! Her Grandson, Grayson. It just so happens that The Thompson Family would have a Twist of Fate of Epic Proportions, Her Grandson, Grayson turned out to have a Unique Syndrome known as Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. You bet they were Thinking, What in The World Is That?! After information was Learned and attended a PTLS Conference, Faith Thompson took Grayson’s PTLS by The Horns! She did not just go with it, like People do, She RAN with It. She would Take Care of Grayson, literally any chance that She got, With Glee! More Information to Learn and Teaching herself about PTLS through My Mom and I but, Most Importantly through Watching Grayson grow. So, after a While of Observing, Faith was ready for Action. Action Movie, Folks!  Faith decided to wear a Shirt with The PTLS Logo, using Her Favorite Colors, Pink and Green. By The Way, Pink was always her Favorite Color and Green, from PTLS was Her Inherited Favorite Color. I remember once that She actually stood in front of Her Church and Proudly showed off Her Faith-ized PTLS Shirts to Raise Money for PTLS! Because She was Dedicated and Determined to Raise Money for The PTLS Foundation. I actually saw a Picture of It, thought Nothing of it at the Time but, I knew that She was One Proud Grandma! Now, The Conferences, She would be at Grayson’s Side, most of The Time and Of Course, doing what She does Best, Observing.  She would Observe and Be Proud and vice versa, Wondering and Always Wondering about PTLS and How She could help even more in Raising Money for The PTLS Foundation. She probably could Wonder a lot about What was going on in not only Grayson’s Head, but Other PTLSers’ Heads as Well. There is more of course, than PTLS and Family to Faith, but That was The Biggest Pillar in Her Life.

 The Second Pillar, I will Call, Sporty, Aren’t We?! Okay, so Faith was not THAT Sporty but, There was One Sport that She loved in Her Latter Life. A New Sport, known as Paddle Boarding! If There was One Thing that She loved in Her Free Time, that was it! I personally have never done it, but Faith told me that It was totally worth it! Yes, It is a Tad Challenging and A Little Harder than It looks because it requires a lot of Exercise, but Totally Worth It! Honestly, that is What I will miss about Her, but Maybe that was because She told me that She would teach me how to do it. Anyway, Again, She took This New Sport of Paddle Boarding by The Horns! Just like She did with Grayson and His PTLS! She found out that, No You don’t always have to do Paddle Board leisurely and Nice anndd Sloow. Actually, You can Paddle Board Race as well! Once Faith got the Hand of Paddle Boarding, again that Action Movie Faith came out and Thought, “I don’t want to JUST Paddle Board Nice and Slow! Nah! I want it Faster!” and, Faster She did. She and Her Pink Paddle Board (There is that Pink again, Folks!) did Several Paddle Boarding Races! I believe She even did one on a Big Lake in The Rain! She loved it either way! Perhaps, Her Spirit will guide me to a Soft Lake and Help Teach me how to Paddle Board myself. I think it would be Fun. So, The Third Pillar is kind of Minor compared to Pride of PTLS and Grayson but, I figured that It is worth mentioning! 

The Third Pillar of Faith, I will call For The Love of Food! Now, Yes, Any Human loves the Thought of Food, It makes their Mouth Water. But, With Faith, She liked Food of all kinds but, If She had to pick a Favorite, It would be Cuban Food. Well, Maybe because Faith’s Family, not The Thompsons, are Part Cuban. Anyway, I remember that Faith loved Cuban Food. In Fact, We went to a Cuban Food place when We saw her at Christmas of 2015. I probably mentioned in My Newsletter then, Refer to That Newsletter. Maybe She loved The Taste of a Good old Cuban Sandwich, The Rice, The Meat, What is not to Love about that?! I would guess that She loved The Cuban Sandwich the most. All in All, Faith was a Brilliant Woman and We lost her way to soon. She will always be in Our Hearts anytime that Ourselves feel like Observing, Being Proud, Paddle Boarding (or Watching It) or Maybe enjoying a Good Cuban Sandwich.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Life is like a Movie, You pick The Genre!

The Christianville Spirit: Happy New Year 2017

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

January 4th, 2017-TCS # 527

Welcome Back, My Readers! I would Love to Welcome You to Another Year of Inspirational, Encouraging, and Newsletters about Things that Just make you Wonder in The Year to come! But first, Happy New Year and Welcome to 2017! By The Way, The Tagline for 2017 is The Spirit that Makes You Wonder. Now, You start to Wonder, see What I did there, Who came up with This Tagline? Well, actually I did. Yes, Okay, I forgot the Tradition of Asking for Feed Back and Suggestions for The New Tagline as I do Every Year, but Time got ahead of Me and I chose it Myself. I chose it because My Newsletters this year will You Wonder, Ponder about The Topic at Hand that I am writing about.  

Boy, I’m sure that Some of You are Happy to hear those words, Happy New Year and Welcome to a New Year, The Year of 2017. Yes, I know to some of You, You just could not wait until 2016 was over and Now, You get to start a New Year. So, Here comes a Question that How do You exactly Start a New Year. Well, You count down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Happy New Year! Right? That is all You do, Roll The Credits. Well, Sorry to Scratch The Record here, buuuuuttt, It does not stop there. You actually have to do stuff! So, How then? Well, People do New Years in Different Ways! I learned that in Madrid, Spain; People gather in front of Their TVs or at Puerta Del Sol (sort of like Times Square, only More Architecture). Anyway, Just before Midnight, They listen to the Clock Tower and with Each Gong of The Bell, They eat a Grape. The Goal here is to Each all 12 Grapes (Each for 12 Months of The Year) with Each Gong for Good Luck. Sounds like a Challenge, I would think. But, Anyway. People use Different Methods of Starting a New Year off. The Things They do are Resolutions, Goals or Plan of The Year, or Starting Out Fresh, Literally.

 So, First Thing that Most People are Familiar with is New Years Resolutions. Some People (and, It is Rarity) are Very Faithful about Making New Years Resolutions. As In, They actually keep their Resolutions and Can say Mission Accomplished at The End of The Year. Most People, however do New Year Resolutions and Don’t Get Me Wrong, They try to be Faithful about it but, usually Fail about Mid to The End of January. Common New Years Resolutions are To Stop Smoking, To Be a Better Person, and Most Importantly, To lose to Weight. To Be Honest, I tried that New Years Resolution on The Wii Fit We got one Christmas and I only made it to like, February or something like that. So, I don’t believe in New Years Resolutions for those Reasons. 

Now, The Next Way that People Start a New Year off is like I did Last Year, You set Goals or a Plan for The Year to Accomplish. My Goals of This Year, I really do hope to Finally find The Woman of My Dreams and Of Course, Work on My Independence, Get that Laser Hair Removal because It will help me Majorly with My Independence. That is The Biggest Dent of it, As I wrote about Last Year (Refer to “Dents in Independence” Newsletter). Meet More PTLS Family Members, I am hoping to get France, Sweden (again), and Norway accomplished. Now, I would love to get Australia in there too even if It is a Horrifically Long Flight! Business Class, perhaps? Be on My Side This Year, Airplane Gods, Okay? That would be Brilliant and I will Praise You Forever. Praise The Know-All Airplane Gods! I probably should go into Another Newsletter and Explain about “Airplane Gods”. More on that, Another Time.

The Final Thing that People do to Start a New Year, I do but, Some People do it rather Extremely. So, In High School, I had to be taught about Figurative Language in order to be able to Communicate better with My Peers. They had a Whole Class on it! Anyway, There was one called “Wipe The Slate Clean”, Once I understood what it meant, to Start Fresh or Anew, It became one of My Favorite ones. I tied it to New Years. When You said, Happy New Year, It basically wiped whatever was on My Slate last year, clean. So, With that Said, I usually throw away My Old Year Calendar, Write down My New Tagline, and Flip My “Day Markers” to January and Whatever Day it is. Some People, however, take it a bit Extremely. They would be Okay with Getting rid any Negative Forces (Any and All) from The Old Year even if That Means, Dumping Friends.  They clean Everything on New Years Day so that Everything is Squeaky Clean, or Maybe They completely change their Behavior in a Matter of a Day. Not to say that, that It is a Bad Thing. It can be a Good Thing. But, It can be Good or Bad depending on The Way that They Swing.  So, as You can see People bring in The New Year in Many Different Ways. All in all, I want to Thank all My Loyal Readers for Sticking with Me this long, I am proud to say that We have made it to The 11th Year of Writing and I just want to begin The Year of 2017, by Thanking all of Loyal Readers for Being some Awesome! What does Your New Year look like?

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Happy New Year 2017! Let’s Start Fresh and Make it a Good One!