The Christianville Spirit: 10th Anniversary-Who I Was

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

October 28, 2015-TCS # 471

Hello, My Readers! It is that time of Year again, well, Actually that is What I would normally be writing about This Week considering that It is Halloween and I’m not much of a Fan, But, These Next Two Weeks are Very Special to Me! It is Special because This Sunday is The 10th Anniversary of My Newsletter, The Christianville Spirit. Yes, I can not believe it either, I have been writing this Newsletter since 2005 (Ten Years Ago!). You Know, It is Amazing to look at My Life at Where I was 10 Years Ago and More like, How have I changed since Then. So, Over My 10th Year Anniversary, I am going to Show You, The Me before and The Me Presently. In Many Ways, both personally and In My Newsletter I have changed. So, Let’s Jump into The History Books, Shall We?! (Tape Rewinding with Funny Noises) We come back on November of 2005. This was before My Theory about Bridgett, Before Carol Holiday, To The Beginning of My Newsletter. I was still in High School in a Repeat of 10th Grade which I called Grade 10.5. (Actually, Now that I am looking at My Records, I was just beginning My 11th Year of High School). Life was Great for Me, I had a Best Friend named Steven and Of Course, Karleen was One of My Best Friends too. I would go over to Steven’s House quite often to Play on The Computer or Video Games, We would sometimes go to Sunday School at The Church down the street from My House. Believe Me though, I was not as Social as I am Now. I believe Steven and I actually hung out more Outside of School that Summer. I Believe We actually started hanging out Outside of School The Year before. In Terms of Internet Social Life, At The Time There was Myspace but, There was not a Facebook then. Even so, I was not comfortable getting on What was then, Social Media. So, Instead I would sit on My Computer doing What was called AIM or America Online Instant Messenger. I wrote Like THIS, IN ALL CAPS, ALL THE TIME! I did not realize until My Childhood Friend told me that Writing in All Caps was considered Yelling or with a lot of Emphasis, Either Way I thought it was Cool to Write in All Caps because that was The Way I wrote in Handwriting. Somehow, looking on it now, I probably thought that If You wrote in All Caps in Handwriting, then You wrote it in Typing. At That Time, Technology was not so far then, Yes They had IPods but, I didn’t really need one because I could play CDs or Download The Music from The CD to My Computer. By The Way, My Mom and I figured that at the Time, Considering that I was a bit behind socially compared to My Peers in 11th Grade, Senior High School as It is referred to in Plano, It was Better to hold me back another year for 10th Grade, Hence The Term that Steven and I came up with as Grade 10.5 (or 10.5 Grade). That and It helped that I would also Graduate with My Brother instead of separately. Up to The Point, I had only 1 Girlfriend named Ali. I am not sure if I was ready yet for Dating or so. I tried Dating Ali at one time probably because I had a huge Crush on Her and It was The Second Time that I had a Crush on Her. I know this is hard to Believe but, Where Today I am 28 Years Old, I was 18 Years Old at That Time. I had just became an “Official Adult” which meant that My Mom and I had to get Guardianship to help take care of Me. At The Time, I had not Worked before, but The Next Year of 2006, that Summer I started working at the Local Baseball Field. As for The PTLS World, PTLS or Potocki-Lupski Syndrome was around but, It had not been named yet. It was then called “A Duplication of Chromosome 17”. At The Time, There were only a Few Families that had Kids with PTLS, This was before They were referred to as “PTLS Family Members”. With My Newsletter starting, My Mom told me that I should write a Blog as a Way to stay busy after High School, at the time, I was not as Comfortable about Writing Publicly yet, so I sent them out as an Email to Family and a Few Friends. Over Time, that would eventually grow and I started posting on a Yahoo 360! Social Media Site, a Year or so after, and Eventually leading to The Site where I presently Write Today. I wrote My Newsletter (or then, called a ‘Newspaper’) in sort of a Newsy Style, Writing The Date above and Location. The First Newsletter starts with The Date in Caps, “NOVEMBER 1, 2005” and Then, “DOWNTOWN CHRISTIANVILLE” as The Next Part. The Christianville Spirit, By The Way, I came up with along with Information about My Made-City of Christianville, Tennessee. I figured that The ‘Newspaper‘ of Christianville needed a Unique Name besides the Typical names for Newspapers and then, The Christianville Spirit was Born! All in all, That is Who I was back then and I had lots of Changes and Adventures ahead of Me! 

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Change is Painful but, So is Sitting Still.   

The Christianville Spirit: Back to The Future Day!

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

October 21, 2015-TCS # 470

Great Scott, My Readers! It is a Very Special Day Today! Very Special in terms of History. For Those of Us who grew up in The 90’s and Earlier, Today is The Day that The so-called “Future” becomes The Present! What I am referring to is of course, The Now Classic Movie, Back to The Future. It Is One of Many that are Classic Time Travel Movies that there have been in The Movie World. What is Funny about that, Is that Most Time Travel type of Movies deal with going into The Past. SPOILER ALERT Here! That was Back to The Future The Original. Where Today comes in is, in Back to The Future Part II(2) when Marty Mcfly and Doc come to The Future. You See, We kinda knew that Eventually That Movie would come to Today, People post about it on Facebook, All Freaking Out like “Today is The Day!” when it really is not. Don’t Believe Everything on The Internet People! But, Actually, Newsletter Day, Wednesday, October 21st, of 2015 is Actually The Day. It is Interesting to Study The Parallels of The Predictions of 2015 versus The Actual 2015. Now, Remember that 2015 (Written back then as Two-Thousand Fifteen, Where as Today it is said Twenty-Fifteen) was a Long Way into The Future. This is Majorly Considering that The Film was made back in 1989 and They were predicting something at least 30 Years ahead! Now, Some of the stuff like Jaws in It’s 17th Sequel was a Little Crazy, Flying Cars (We are Working on that!), Hover Boards (Didn’t You see Tony Hawk that One Time?!), 80’s Cafes (hmm..Sort of!), and Texaco still in Business (I am sure that We all thought that was Crazy too!). But, What about those Little Predictions like A Car for 999.99 (That is True!), Wearable Technology (Hello, Google Glass!), Picture in Picture with a Hundred Channels! (Oh You Betcha!), and Also, The Mentioning of The Chicago Cubs winning The World Series (Now, That actually could Happen!). A Side Note about that, The Cubs are actually in The Playoffs, which They have not won in a VERY Long Time! Now, Let’s Talk about Other Thoughts in This Movie , They predicted one of The Characters was going become The First Black Mayor. They were Close! Did We ever think back in The 90’s and Earlier that We would have a Black President? Most likely not! I am not trying to sound Offensive and I am Sorry if I do. Now, I know, I know, The President thing isn’t really working out as We had Hoped, perhaps We choose The Wrong Black President? Well, Regardless, The Day that happened I have to admit I was Pretty Excited about that. One Thing that They sort of mention in The Movie is How expensive Everything is, and Unfortunately that is True. I mean, Gasoline back in 1989 was like around a $1.00 per Gallon and Today, It is $1.85 a Gallon (It used to be more like, Over $3.00 A Gallon!). Technology was Most Certainly a Prediction! The Wearable Technology, Handheld Devices, Hundreds of Channels, and more. When I was growing up, We had Nintendo 64 and Outside. If You DID get on The Internet, You had to Sign In via a Phone Line and Hear the Awful-Screechy Noise then You were Online, Back then known as America Online or AOL for Short. Back Then, I never pictured any of Those Things I mentioned, that is except for Robots. Today, We have all sorts of Robots! On a Personal Level, I never thought that I would be where I am Today, As Social as I am (I used to anxious just to go to a School Dance!), Mature as I am, and Talking, while I did not do for a Very Long Time. Back then, in 1989 anyway, I was only 2 Years Old! I had not even been Diagnosed yet!  I was Just Me and I still think that! I’m sure My Mom never thought that She would be President of The PTLS Foundation because of Her 2-Year Old Son that would get Diagnosed later with Duplication 17p11.2, leading to Conferences, Meeting Families, and All the Way up to Where We are Today. So, Back to The Movie, After Today, “The Future” that They went to is actually going to become The Past! All in all, It leaves me to Wonder what The World will be like in another 30 Years, The Year 2045 and I will be 58 Years Old! Great Scott! That is a Scary thought!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. What do You think is In The Future for You?

The Christianville Spirit: Meeting PTLS Members in Sweden and UK

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

October 14, 2015-TCS # 469

Surprise, My Readers! Yes, I know, it is a Day Early (Shocker!) but, I have a Busy Week ahead of Me, so I am going to write This Newsletter Today instead of Wednesday, All though It is already Wednesday in Australia and Europe! Anyway, So Last Week I explained about All The Fun I had Over in Sweden and The United Kingdom, but, Here is a bit of a Thing, I did not focus as much on The “PTLS Business Trip” side of It. So, That is What I am going to do! So, Like I said, Last Week, I went to Sweden and The UK on Our “PTLS Business Trip”, We probably should refer to it as a “PTLS Speaking Tour”. Now, What is Funny about This Far-Flung Trip to Europe is that usually Worldly PTLS Family Members come to Me. In other words, They are The Ones who travel halfway around The World to The US, usually in The PTLS Capitol of Houston at Our PTLS Conference and Sometimes in between. Remember when We hung out with the PTLS Members from Australia that came to Dallas? That was actually 2 Months Ago! I digress. Anyway, This Trip was Very Much a Role Reversal, Where I am going to See Them. Now, that has happened with PTLS Members in The US but, Never those from other Parts of The World. The First “Role Reversal” is going to Sweden. Now, Funny Enough, I have been Dreaming about going to Sweden because It’s Nature is just stunning! Many Other Reasons as well in terms of Beauty. So, My Mom told me that We are going to Stockholm, Sweden to Speak about PTLS, I literally jumped for Joy. So, The Question that I am sure that You are beggingly asking is, So Come On Now, What was it like?! Well, First of All, When You talk to PTLS Members, You read Their Name, and You see a Small Picture next to Their Name and You can’t help but Think, “Oh! (Insert PTLS Member Here), Who am I kidding, I will never meet that Person! They will just be a PTLS Members Name on a Screen!” I like to say that It is like meeting a Movie or Television Star, You know that They are in fact an Actual Person, but They are not real in Your Head. When You Finally Meet Them, You think, “Oh My Lord, They are Real!” I had that feeling with PTLS Member, Josefine. We had known Josefine for at least 4 or 5 Years, We Skyped several times in That Time. Because I have seen Josefine’s Face on Facebook, I knew who it was. Some PTLS Members who have not been around as Long, like PTLS Member, Caroline of Sweden (Double Shoutout!), You kind of have to Refresh your Mind about Them or They just introduce themselves and then, check Facebook later and see, Ohhh! That is Who They are! Two (of Many) PTLS Members that I found fun to Talk to were Caroline, Johan, and Josefine of Sweden (Let’s not forget Camilla of Norway!). It was really cool to talk to Them because They shared My Fascination about Their Part of The World and Understood Why I am Fascinated by It! Camilla, I should mention was another Major PTLS Member that was a Must Meet on My List of Members to Meet. We met her when We saw The Changing of The Guard in Sweden along with Her Lovely Daughter. I also met Three Adult Boys that had PTLS, They mainly spoke Norwegian so, It was Hard to talk to Them. Luckily though, They understood English more than They spoke it. Wish I would have Known That! The Doctors that We met, They were pretty Awesome and Of Course, They were the ones who Invited us over there and really started this Whole “PTLS Speaking Tour” Trip. I was Very Honoured (Euro Version of “Honored”) to have flown across The Atlantic (aka “The Pond”) to Meet All the PTLS Members and Come to Sweden. What made it really Awesome was that on The Second and Third Day in Stockholm, We “walked and talked” while strolling through Stockholm. A bit of Mention here, Swedes walk Very Fast and They WILL run You down if You are in Their Way. And, Do Not Forget about The Biker Right-of-Way too! We ran one into The Fence accidentally when Walking from The Conference to Our Hotel, Opps! Sorry! After Soaking in The Culture of Sweden, (I have never been so Emerced into The Culture!), We flew to Part 2 of Our Adventure to The UK. PTLS Member, Delphine drove us to Her House where We had Our Gathering The Next Day. Meeting Delphine was a Major One for Me because Her, Myself, and Her Son Hugo, FaceTime pretty much Every Saturday or Sunday. So, Again, I had that “Holy Schnikies, She is Real” Moment!. You Know, I did not think of This until I got Home but, Hers was The First PTLS Members‘ House that We spend the Night at! It was Wonderful, I would totally do it again! Of Course, On The Way to Her House, I felt like I “Hit The Wall” and Had a Post-Stockholm Meltdown in front of Her. Not Very Proud of that, but that was Something I had never done. So, In a Way, It was a Learning Experience for Both of Us! I was Okay after though! It probably was All The Excitement from Dreams coming true in Stockholm and Meeting Delphine, who was a Major PTLS Member to Meet, It really catches up with You! So, after The Fun Evening in Stratford-Upon-Avon (Locally called “Stratford”), We had Our Gathering. So, I helped greet people to Come In. Some PTLS Members I remembered instantly and Others took a Bit more of an Introduction. PTLS Member, Angela was a Highlight because I remember them sending me Maps and I sent them a Gift back. Another Person that Came was a Sister-In-Law of a PTLS Member, Chalky. I had Questions for Her about The Wedding that she went to a Couple Months Before. Another Major PTLS Member to Meet (among Many!) was Sally and Her PTLS Adult Son. Us PTLSers are a Bit shy when We meet other PTLSers, so We did not talk as much as We wanted to, but That is Okay. Progress! And, Reconnecting with My Good Buddy, Edward and His Mom. All in all, It was Really Awesome to finally meet and talk with So Many People that I have gotten to Know very well. It was The Best Trip that I have ever taken!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Having Dreams True is Very Important to Me!

The Christianville Spirit: Trip to Stockholm & London

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

October 7, 2015-TCS # 468

Welcome Back, My Readers! We are finally back on My Newsletter’s Weekly Schedule and I am Ready to Roll! So, About That Trip...One Word, It was Awesome. That is All! Hehe, Just Kidding! I am going to tell you all about it. You See, A Couple Months Ago before The PTLS Conference, My Mom told me that We might go to Stockholm to Speak about PTLS; Keyword here, Might! The Reason being because Fine Doctors of a Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden wanted to have a Little Conference about PTLS, problem was, They did not know a whole lot about PTLS. So, They called Doctor Lupski and asked for Him to come, and At That Moment, He could not. Anyway, so Doctor Lupski recommended My Mom to come speak, Surprise! It is Solid!, and So Begins a Destiny-Changing Adventure. So, It started with Us leaving Home at 2:11Pm on a Monday, I have been seeing Lots of 11s before This Point so I knew It was Destiny. I believe that Nothing is ever a Coincidence, It is always part of Our Destiny. I feared that I may not be able to handle it, but, Surprisingly It felt Natural, It felt Right. We got to walk through The Terminals of DFW as well as London Heathrow while We waited, and On to Stockholm, We go! It is a Cloudy Day as We arrive in Stockholm, It has been Quite a Long Day of Traveling, not to mention Very Loud and Annoying People sitting behind us from Dallas to London, Overnight. But, None The Less, as Long as I looked Outside in the Sun or did activities to keep me moving, I stayed Awake. Reading and Writing, not so much! My First Impressions of Sweden was Quite Awesome, Very Green, Lots of Trees, and Cleanliness. We land in Stockholm, Go through Customs, and Our Trusty Friend, Monica is standing there with a Swedish Flag on a Stick saying “Welcome to Sweden!” as The Doors open. We then Rode a Bus to Our Hotel near The Hospital that We were speaking at. Kinda had a Mishap of Failing to Press The Stop Button over Our Head when We got to The Hotel, so We had to stand a while at a Nice-and-Clean Bus Stop to Pick up Another Bus to take us to Our Hotel. Oh, and Did I mention, That it was Raining that Day. This is An Adventure, Remember! Sometimes, The Oddest Things to happen on A Trip always Tell The Best Stories! Anyway, After We got settled, a Little Confusion with Our Room and who’s It was, We headed out to Dinner with Monica and Her Lovely Ex-Pat Friend, Nancy. We went to Place that at The Time, I could not Pronounce. (It was Trannen, by the way) in Odengaten. I’m not sure if My Mom tasted Her Food because of Asking so Many Questions about Concerns for Our PTLS Family Members, She was getting as Much Information as Possible. Meanwhile, I was Enjoying My Meal. I have to say that They had The Best Swedish Meatballs of This Whole Trip! Odengaten, That was My Focal Point of Knowing where I was. Because The Streets in Stockholm had Very Long and Hard Names to say, I just remember “Odengaten” and then, I knew how to get back. First Full Day in Stockholm was Sighting Seeing with Our Friend, Monica. We visited The Stockholm City Hall where The Nobel Prize Banquet is as well as The Awesomely Awesome, Gold Room with in fact, REAL Gold. It is Awesome to Walk the Stairs of The Footsteps of Nobel Prize Winners who are Very Intelligent People! My Mom was learning alot about Sweden’s Healthcare and Education compared to The US from Monica.

After That, We walked through The City Center and had Our Traditional “Fika” in The Middle of Our Tour. In Sweden, You must have a Fika! By The Way, Fika in a The Best Term of Mind, is basically a Coffee Break with Family, Friends, Co-Workers, or All of The Above. You go to Work at about 8:00AM, Fika # 1 at Maybe 10 or so, Go back to Work, Lunch, Fika # 2, Work some more and, then Off around 4:30PM at least. People are Very Happy over There, No Stress, Everyone gets Free Healthcare & Education, Paid Paternity Leave, and At Least 6 Weeks of Vacation (ahem..Holiday Time). Swedes are a bit Reserved  at First, They want You to prove Yourself, and Then, You are pretty much on Their Party Guest Lists for Life as long as You take Your Shoes off at The Door and You are Punctual (Swedes are Very Punctual). Jobs, You must Speak Swedish First before Getting a Job. It is Done, Swedish First and then, English. BUT, Once You have a Job, You are Set for Life as There is Too Much Paper Work to Fire You. Sweden is Very Clean, cleaner than Any City I have been to! Anyway though, We walked through a Swedish Department Store called Åhlens and It was Pretty Cool. I have to say that Their Dairy Section in The Swedish Grocery Store is Larger than I have ever seen! Next, We walked through The Farmers Market and Shopping Area near “Queens Street” which is a Pedestrian Roadway. That is another Thing, I should mention, Swedes Walk ALOT! In the 3 Days, We were there, We walked about 10 Kilometers each day (Equivalent to about 6 Miles). They Bike, Walk, and Take Public Transportation, It is a wonder Why They are One of The Happiest Countries and Healthiest Countries in The World! After Walking through The Main Drag of The City Center, We hopped on a Rail bus that took us to One of The Many Islands of Stockholm called Djürgården (This Name for Me, was Very Hard to Pronounce at First), I referred to It as “The Nature Island”, because in a way, That is What it was. It had a Museum/Zoo called Skansen, that is dedicated to Sweden’s Nature. We walked through Some Very Stunning Nature and That is Where Monica walks Every Friday with a few of Her Friends. I have to say, It was truly something to Marvel At. We did go to a Nice Restaurant there as well.  We did walk near The ABBA Museum and Take Pictures there. After that, We said goodbye to Monica for The Night, My Mom and I hopped on The Bus to go back to The Hotel, We did get a bit lost for a second on The Way back but, Thank God for Google Maps app. The 2nd Day, We met PTLS Member, Josefine and Her Boyfriend as well as PTLS Members, Camilla and Her Daughter and We toured around. Again, I’m not sure if My Mom saw Everything because She was trying to learn from The Views of The PTLS Family Members living in Scandinavia. 

This Time, We went to Gamla Stan (Stockholm Old Town) and Saw The Changing of The Guard at The Royal Palace. We also saw Another Swedish Department Store called NK and It had 6 Floors. After 2 Lovely Days of Sightseeing, It was Time to get to Business! The Evening of Day 2, We had a Nice Dinner with PTLS Family Members from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany while My Mom had a Business Meeting with The Doctors. One of The Doctors was Nice enough to let me taste Her Cured Salmon. The Next Day, was The Speaking at The Hospital to Swedish Geneticists. First, The Swedish Geneticist, talked about PTLS in Swedish (Again Things have to be done in Swedish first!) and Then, My Mom followed up with Talking about PTLS for 2 and a Half Hours. And a Break, Lunch, and Couple More Hours after that. I was So Beyond Proud of My Mom! She does really well speaking to such a Large Crowd like that! The Fine Doctors said that We are Welcome Back at Anytime. After that, The Next Day, We flew to London for Part 2 of Our PTLS Speaking Tour. Now, I have to say though, London Heathrow Airport is by far The Most Complicated Airport there is, Especially Terminal 5! At This Point in the Trip, I was so Overwhelmed for all The Excitement and Dreams coming True in Sweden that I did not know what to do with Myself! So, I had a little Meltdown on The Way to the House of Our UK Host, Delphine. But, after that, I was Okay. We got settled in and Calmed down a Bit and then, We went to Dinner at a Rooftop Restaurant in Stratford-Upon-Avon. It is was not just ANY Restaurant, It was a Restaurant at The Shakespeare Theater! It was So Awesome! Again, There goes My Mom asking Questions and Gathering Information. She really Learned alot! The Next Day, We had a Huge Gathering to share the Knowledge from The Doctors and All The Research My Mom has been doing, and Hearing Stories to add to Her Research. My Mom had a Phone Conversation with A Doctor from A Hospital there to set up something in The Near Future and One of The Organizations there. I found it Really Nice to meet all The PTLS Members that I have been talking with for Many Years. The Last Day of Our Trip, We took the train down to London and Met More PTLS Members as well as Seeing The Sights that We could see in One Day. The Major Ones; Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, and a “Proper English Pub”. After All that, We got on a Plane the Next Morning and Headed Home. All in All, It was an Awesome, Destiny-Changing, Dreams coming True, Super Fast, PTLS Business Trip!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Thank You (Takk Du!) to Everyone involved! 

The Christianville Spirit: My Readers Choice Rerun

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

September 30, 2015-TCS # 467

Alright, My Readers! So, I am finally back Home from My PTLS Business Trip! I am very happy to Be Home but, at The Same Time, I am working on recovering from Such an Awesome Trip. You Know What They say, You know it was a Good Trip when You are Very Tired, but more of a Happy Tired not a Stressed Out Overwhelmed Tired. Anyway, So This Week I am going to do a Re-run and Next Week, We will pick up to My Newsletter Schedule as usual. So, This Newsletter was written back on June 19th of 2013, Newsletter Number 356 for Reference. At This Time in My Life, I had figured that I would let My Readers pick what I wrote about in My Newsletter and This is The Result. Enjoy!

So, My Readers, I decided 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.