The Christianville Spirit: Include, Not Exclude

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Fills Your Heart & Lifts You Up

June 26, 2013-TCS # 357

So, This Past Sunday, My Mom and I went to a really cool party, It was for one of our former neighbor’s Birthday. You See, when we first moved in to the house we live in Now, 16 Years Ago, we had this neighbor that would always say hello to us and Every Monday, at least, she would bring us a Box of Bagels for all of us to eat. We would hear the doorbell ring and it would be her, giving My Mom the box of bagels along with her sweet saying, “To Feed The Children”(She still takes Bagels to work with her and tell them the same thing) or Just to come over and say Hello and see how we were doing. Anyway, It was her 70th Birthday at her daughter, Michelle’s House. We thought that Michelle still lived down the street from our house, but she had moved to a new house that she built in The Country. She did have a nice house though and a big yard. When we came over, I saw that they were throwing a big party, complete with a Pool, Basketball Court (if you wanted to play), and A Huge Adult Size Water Slide. So, We had a small reunion with Our Neighbor and Michelle, and then, I was off to the Water Slide with all the kids. I had forgotten until the night after the party, that the last time I hung out with them, one of children that had been invited as well called me “The R-Word”, but that didn’t cross my mind at The Party. Because The Kids welcomed me, much to my surprise. I had to make sure to take it slow going on Runs down the water slide because I start getting overwhelmed, My Heart beats really fast, and My Vision starts getting blurry. By The Way, The Slide was an Inflatable one and the hardest part (and, most tiring) is climbing up to the top of the slide, to Slide Down. But, I did have a lot of fun playing with kids, one of them, later on liked the way I jumped and then, slid down and I would go all the way to the end if I was on My Belly. Whenever I was done with the slide and ready for the pool, I would hang out with whoever was in the pool. Now, Don’t Get Me Wrong, I am a Social Butterfly, but sometimes because I don’t know a lot of people and I’m not sure how the kids will accept me or not, it feels a little lonely. One Wish I had was that My PTLS “Brother” and Friend, Tyler (who is in town) was there to hang out with, talk to, and he could join us playing on the Water Slide. Even though, I was having fun, I still felt like I didn’t Belong. Many of the kids were asking me if I still go to School and I said that, “I graduated” and then, they follow with, “Do You go to College?”. You Know, when it comes to talking with Kids, The Topics of Driving and College come up and they have this impression that You have to go to College or else you are considered Stupid. I don’t mind this question when it comes to Parents or Adults because they are truly interested or they understand. I am aware that I cannot live in My Own Little PTLS Crew or “Bubble.” But, If I could, I would feel accepted and have plenty of topics in common to discuss that we like. Don’t Get Me Wrong, I love Meeting People and Socializing, but there are times when I wish I had PTLS Friends around My Age to Hang Out with more often. And, We don’t have to do things that are “Age Appropriate” which we often act either less than Our Age and Sometimes, Because we are Smart, over our age. All in all, It was a fun party with a few moments of loneliness.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Include People, Don’t Exclude People. 

The Christianville Spirit: My Reader's Choice

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Fills Your Heart & Lifts You Up

June 19, 2013-TCS #356

So, My Readers, I decide to do something different for This Week’s Newsletter. You See, On Facebook, I decided that instead giving My Readers topics that don’t always interest them or that they don’t want to hear about, I decided to give you, My Readers, the power to choose what I write. My Choices I came up with were My View on Something, PTLS Related, An Adventure/Trip, A Life Event and An Accomplishment. The Winner, to My Surprise, was An Accomplishment. So, That is what I am writing this week, Thanks to the input of My Readers. Enjoy!

So, To spotlight, one accomplishment would be hard to pick, so I will do a couple of them. In My Head Anyway, This Accomplishment is a big one (although there are bigger). You See, when I was in High School in 10th Grade, The Schedule gave me a sort-of “Job Study Period.”  It turned out that there wasn’t enough to keep me busy. So, one day the Vice Principal assigned me to a very important job, what was known as “Parking Lot Duty.” So, The Vice Principal took me around The Teacher Parking Lot and said, “These Green (Keystone Looking) Tags represent The Teachers and Those 3 white painted lines for Visitors” and he told me that any person who had one of those “Keystone Looking” Tags that parked in the wrong place that I had my clipboard that I had to write the License Plate number. After a couple trial runs, I got the hang of it and I was used to doing “Parking Lot Duty” at the time. Considering that I am Routine Oriented and Am Big On Rules, I was excited about getting to do it everyday. Eventually, though, it caught up with me and My Own Teachers would tell me not to write them up because they took the wrong car to School and forgot their Tag. They helped by describing where the car was and what color. But, to me, I was on The Rules, that and by the time I got out there, I would forget what they told me and without realizing it, I wrote them up anyway. At the end of The School Year, I got 100% Compliance that Year. After many Teachers were wondering, who I was and who was writing them up. I got an award near the end of the School Year for “Parking Lot Duty” that I didn’t even know that I had won. There was an Award Ceremony that I didn’t go to because I thought that I wouldn’t get an award that I got one anyway. So, I personally count that more as a Professional Accomplishment. The next Accomplishment is something that My Mom is proud of. You See, do you remember My Mom and I went to Houston to meet this wonderful Photographer who is now our buddy? This was a while ago, so it is okay if you don’t remember. Anyway, Before we all had our “Model Pictures” taken if you will, We went to a Presentation at the Baylor College of Medicine to show all his photos that he has taken of People with various Special Needs since the beginning. Anyway, after they showed all the pictures, Dr. Potocki & Dr. Lupski, and Other Doctors as well as My Mom joined a little panel in front of Over 200 Medical Students for a program called “Compassion and The Art of Medicine.” Dr. Potocki told me the night before that I could join if I wanted to. When the panel started, I was a little nervous sitting in the audience and then, Dr. Potocki said, “We also have Julie’s Son, Christian here if he would like to come up” and I sat there for a second and I thought, Okay, I might as well. After I sat down with everyone, They had a microphone for everyone to pass around and Of Course, with every question, they passed it to me. Eventually, I got the hang of it and used to them passing the Mic to each person. Now, as My Mom likes to say, it didn’t go without me having People in Tears with the things I said. I even polled the audience to see who looked at people from The Inside (Meaning Inner Beauty), instead of The Outside (Meaning Outer Beauty, like someone’s appearance) and only a few hands came up and I said, “God Bless You Guys! Because We need to see the Inner Beauty of People, Not Outer Beauty.” I told people that sometimes It is hard to see the Inner Beauty because you are too fixated on the outside and Yes, even I have done that a time or two. One of the Most Inspirational Things I said was (as I quote Myself from My Records), “Most People only look at the outside of others. That is all they see and are judged on. You can brush your hair, and put on Makeup, but Someone is still going to tell you, “Man, You Look Ugly!” Then, Of Course, there was the very daring thing I said that My Mom LOVES to Reference, I told Over 200 Medical Students and Doctors that, “Having Special Needs is not like living in Hell or anything.” After the panel was over, I just stood there looking at everyone answering questions and the next thing I had a line of Medical Students and Doctors Thanking Me for being so honest and Asking different questions. So, I’m really proud of this accomplishment because I had to talk in front of so many people. A Minor Accomplishment that I did was that I rode in a “Traffic Helicopter” during TV & Radio 5 O’ Clock Traffic Report and Told to keep my eyes peeled from Traffic Trouble. They were impressed that I knew where I was in all parts of the city. they told me that I was welcome back anytime, that was a Fun Accomplishment! All in All, I am very proud of these many accomplishments in My Life.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Be Proud of Your Big and Small Accomplishments.

The Christianville Spirit: Brotherly Time Together

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Fills Your Heart & Lifts You Up

June 12, 2013-TCS # 355

Sometimes when I write My Newsletter, if I don’t have an idea in what to write because My Head is flooded with Ideas, It blocks the topics from flowing. I ask My Mom for some ideas. But, most of the time, I come up ideas on My Own. I get carried away with all the ideas that I often forget to write a Newsletter about a Fun Time or a Good-Hearted Event until weeks after it happened. For that brings me to a Good-Hearted Time that My Brother and I had..that I forgot to write about! You See, I’m not sure if I told you this but, For Christmas, My Brother got me these “Brother Coupons” or more like “Quality Time Coupons” it was sort of a mimic of what We did for My Mom on Mother’s Day one year, but Anyway, These “Brother Coupons” were keys to spend time with My Brother, after all, between School, Work, and Time with Friends & Family, he can be very busy. So, He gave me 3, A Movie Night (at Home or The Movies), An Adventure (with Lunch included), and “Party Time” where we can go to dinner with My Choice of Our Friends. and, I had used the Movie Night one; So, I had to figure out where I wanted to drive to and I thought we would go this “Deck Park” in Downtown Dallas. My Brother had thought it might be cool if we went out to Mineral Wells to go hang out with our friends and I could watch him Rock Climb (He is a really good Rock Climber now) but, due to the park being closed because of the weather, we decided to stay in town and go to “The Deck Park.” So, for those who don’t know what I mean by a “Deck Park”, there was an architect who saw a divider that goes over the highway, if you will, between Uptown Dallas and The Arts District and Downtown Dallas. The divider, which had been there forever was Woodall Rodgers Freeway (which is a connecter freeway from I-35E to US 75). So, The Architect envisioned a connection between Uptown and Downtown through a Park that as crazy as it sounds, was built over the freeway. In The United States, it is first of it’s kind to be built and it is wild to say that there is a park sitting above a busy freeway. but, anyway. Back to My Brother and I. So, I really wanted to see the park (it is called Klyde Warren Park, by the way) because of it’s uniqueness and because it looked really cool. When My Brother and I got there, We walked around the park, it was really awesome. They had a Playground, Spray Grounds at the Entrances of it, Plenty of Grass Space, Food Trucks, and even a Dog Park with little sprayers coming out. I’m sure during the summer, they have concerts in the park. When we were there, they were setting up for one, although it looked like a contest because there were judges up front. After we checked out the park, I had remembered that there was a BIG sign nearby that I wanted to see and take our pictures. You See, The City of Dallas has created this interactive tourism campaign where they have a Big D and Big G, and it is up to You to be the Letter I. So, you can do different poses as the I and post them to The Internet, namely to the “Big Things are Happening in Dallas” Facebook Page. So, We walked over to that, which was at the Winspear Opera House, I knew that because they showed the Arts District Visitor Center on The News. Next to that, was A very shallow pool of water, I wanted to walk in. So, My Brother and I took off our shoes and walked in the water. It was really cool and funny, My Brother and I acted as if we were walking on Water because the water was that shallow. I saw that the girls near us were doing Ballet-like spins around in the water. I walked around, did a little spin, walked along the cracks, and walked on Water. So, after we played in the water a little bit, we decided to sit and watch everybody and enjoy the surroundings. Of Course, Our Brotherly Time didn’t go without a couple Geography Lessons, Being Goofy, and Having Good Talks. After we walked back to The Park, we watched a little bit of the band playing and then, I had noticed that the clouds were looking dark so, we decided to go back to the car, not a minute later after we got in the car; it started pouring down rain, getting windy, and thundering. I did want to show My Brother where we had the PTLS-Dallas “Texas Round Up” but, because of the rain we decided to get a little closer to home. We stopped at Whole Foods for Dinner, because they have something called “King Ranch Casserole” that I like to have and I had it and it was good! Now I did, in a way, get to see My Brother rock climb a little bit because we stopped at REI to get him Rock Climbing Shoes and Rope. I got to see him do it when he was trying the different shoes on. After that, We decided to head home. All in all, Our Adventure was a lot of fun and it’s always fun to act like a Tourist in your own city, as weird as that way be.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Spend a Little Quality Time with Your Siblings.

The Christianville Spirit: Putt's Hometown Adventure

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Fills Your Heart & Lifts You Up

June 5, 2013-TCS # 354

So, You may remember sometime ago of Me mentioning someone named “Putt.” For those who don’t, I wrote about him in the Newsletter, “An Exciting & Unnerving Week”, He is My PTLS “Uncle” Brent’s Dad who likes to be referred to as “Putt.” Anyway, for a while now, “Putt” has been wanting us to come down to Mexia (Pronounced Ma-HAY-Yuh) to give us a tour of the area and visit a couple places that are Near and Dear to His Heart. Yes, He even gave me a Magazine about the area, so I could have an idea and interest in the area. Anyway, This Past Friday, That is what we did, We took a little Day Trip down to Mexia (or Limestone County, Texas) to see all the places. So, what we did was we drove down to a town called Fairfield, which is on I-45 between Dallas and Houston; and, we parked our car at a nearby restaurant, Putt picked us up and we were on our way on “Putt’s Hometown Adventure.” So, we started driving out into the country, not yet toward Mexia but, around it. The First Stop was a town that you would have to know that it is there, let alone, the significance of it. You See, The town’s name was..Wait for it... Tehuacana (pronounced Tuh-Wa-Can-Nuh). The significance of this town was for three reasons, 1. It was historically home to Trinity University, which now is in San Antonio; 2. It was going to be The Capitol of Texas, however Stephan F. Austin was more popular and Austin became The Capitol of Texas; and Finally, 3. It is home to people that want to start a camp for People with Special Needs in the “Tri-County Area” (meaning Limestone, Freestone, and Leon Counties) called “Christian Creek Retreat.” What is fascinating about this town is that the former-dorms of Trinity University (“Texas Hall and “Louisiana Hall”, Respectively) are still standing. In Fact, They hold weddings and sleep-overs in the former-Women’s Dorm. But, You have to provide your own blankets and you have pay per Night, per Person, and per Bed. Never Mind the cost when you get to spend the night in a Historic Building in a Historic Town. That and Tehuacana could have been The Capitol of Texas and been a big city. Anyway, About The Camp, There are these nice people who want to build a camp for Special Needs People and Their Camp is in Deep in The Country and I mean that! They already have a Therapy Room and two Cabins in the process of being built. Their Land is huge though, a lot to mow, but They do have a Special Garden with many vegetables growing and that is Fascinating to Me, also because I’m used to seeing Fruits and Vegetables already picked and at the Grocery Store; But, not while they are growing. It was awesome to see! My Mom and the Owners got into a really good conversation about PTLS. They were excited to hear about it, because they have a Grand Daughter who may have it and now will get Tested for it. They want My Mom to come and Talk to the Parents and Doctors all Around the Area about PTLS. This is Really Cool! So, after that, we drove into Mexia (Ma-HAY-Yuh, again) for a nice refresher while we continue driving. I should mention that Our “Refresher” was a Sweet Tea at Bush’s Chicken for 34 Cents. Before we had the refresher, We drove past a place that is really Near and Dear to Putt’s Heart because it is a No-Kill & Non-Profit Animal Shelter named “LARAS House.” (meaning Limestone Animal Rescue and Adoption Shelter). He says it is a great organization to help and get involved with. After That, We drove through the Winding Backroads of Texas down to a small town called Leona (Again, A town we miss going to Houston) where we had a nice dinner at a place called Leona General Store, which had a very simple menu; You had a choice of Steak, Pork Chops, or Catfish. along with it came a Salad, Twice-Baked Potatoes and Really Good Dinner Rolls. No Flexibility in The Menu, but that is okay because it was really good! All in all, It was an awesome day spent with our good buddy, “Uncle Putt.” 

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Venture Out into The Country, You never know what You are going to Find.