The Christianville Spirit: Life and Love, Grandma Honey's Way

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

March (Marzo) 27th, 2018- TCS # 588

Happy Birthday, My Readers! Okay, so This is an Odd Greeting but, It is quite meaningful. Now, Yes, It may or may not be Your Birthday This Month, although I know a lot of People who have Birthdays in March (“Marzo”, as I call it), but One Highlight Person wants to Wish You Happy Birthday even if It is not, My Grandma Honey. Speaking of which, Today is Grandma Honey’s Birthday. Happy Birthday, Grandma Honey! or Miss Jan, Ga-Honey, Mom or G-Honey, whichever You refer to Her as. My Grandma Honey, She is one of those People that

 would believe that Everyone’s Birthday should be Celebrated as well as Hers because She is Awesome. So, I had an Odd Theory when Thinking of My Mom’s Birthday. You See, I always write an Ode to My Mom, listing Things, saying “If It weren’t for My Mom then XYZ”. I would not be Born, for Example. Funny Thing though, It weren’t for Several People behind My Mom and I, I would not be Born. You See, Us as Young Adults and Children, even though We are taught so, think that We were Babies but, Our Moms and Yes, even Grandmas (or Grandpa) just showed up in Their Modern Appearances. We do not realize that believe it or not, Our Moms and Grandmas were once Our Age. What?! You would say. Well, It is True. For Me, If It weren’t for Grandma Smith (2x Great or “Great, Great”, There would not be My Great-Grandma Mimi; If It weren’t for Great-Grandma Mimi, There would not be My Grandma Honey; If It weren’t for Grandma Honey, I would not have My Mom; and, Finally, If It weren’t for My Mom, There would not be a Me. and, It goes in Circles every time. If You went further back in Your Family’s History, The Circle would go even further back. Perhaps, That is where the whole “The Circle of Life” from The Lion King comes in. Okay, Guys We have to Sing It together! I know that You know It! (Belting out on Song); “Thhhee Circllee of Liifffeee!” If You have Never heard of This Song, Please Watch the Disney Movie, The Lion King. Anyway, so That is Our Life Oddly Works. So, In Honor of My Grandma Honey’s Birthday I am going to Share via a Rerun about One of My Favorite Memories of One of Grandma Honey’s Birthdays. Enjoy and Happy Awesome Birthday, Grandma Honey! 

This Newsletter was written on April 3rd of 2013 (Refer to Newsletter 345)

So, Last Week, The Day after Newsletter Day, I took an exciting, although short trip. It was very special because we drove to Atlanta for My Grandma Honey’s 75th Birthday. You See, My Grandma Honey had been planning this party for Months because We usually have big parties for her at big ages. Only this time it was more planned by Her, instead of the Surprise Parties that we’ve had for her 60th & 70th Birthday. Anyway, so we drove to Atlanta on Thursday, It’s a 12 Hour Drive, but who’s counting. I mean, It’s a nice drive, once you get out of Texas and Through Louisiana. So, on Friday, we hung out at Grandma Honey’s House and then, Uncle Brian and I picked up Aunt Lynn, My Cousin Lyall, and His Wife, Dee-Ann and then, went to have dinner at Uncle Bruce’s House. It was really awesome because we had all of our family all in one place, which only happens every couple of years. I can tell you that I know Grandma Honey LOVES it when all of her Children & Grandchildren are all together, but that’s a Grandma for You. It was nice to see everyone and it is nice to meet Dee-Ann, Lyall’s Wife, who had never met us. She was a very nice person and I believe she handled meeting the family very well. Saturday, however, was The Party and It.Was. Awesome! It had a unique twist to it that most birthday parties don’t. You See, Grandma Honey’s very creative goal was to make it about Everyone’s Birthday (including Her Own). A Celebration of Life, Love, Family, and Friends as She called it, I called it, “Life & Love” because it was a mouthful to say that in a couple seconds while greeting everyone. I applaud and award Grandma Honey because this party was unlike most birthday parties, because most birthday parties are centered on one person and it can make the other people feel bad because maybe their birthday was a day before, the day after, or the week of (You know what I mean). A thought that it is occurring in my mind about this party is that it was sort of a “Thank You-Thank You” Party Idea. Meaning that, We thank Grandma Honey or Miss Jan for her Acts of Service that she does for us (Her Birthday) and She thanks us for our Acts of Service (Everyone’s Birthday). I think it’s a good idea for a party like that and I should mention that Everyone loved it, 70 People showed up, in fact. So, What did We do at This Party, You Say? We had a room at Maggiano’s Little Italy, we had an Open Bar,     Party Horns (they were a little loud for me), and Really Good Food. Now, Considering that My Family is part Italian, I’ve had a good appreciation of Good Italian Food. We had Chicken Piccata, Spinach Manicotti, Mostaccoli, and Lots of Appetizers. Between the Main Course & Desert, we had a nice Family Photo while Everyone was there. When Desert came, Grandma Honey wanted to do what she called a “Flash Mob” where a few people started singing “Happy Birthday to Everybody” and then, people would be surprised. The song actually turned into “Happy Birthday to Us” which was easier to say than Everybody. Of Course, We’ll all point out that one of the waiters had a Really Good Voice when he sung it. Now, We did get to have PTLS Member Aunt Joey and Uncle Chris show up as sort of a Surprise to My Mom and it was really great to see her because we haven’t seen each other in a while. It was really nice to see Ava and how much she has developed since the last time I saw her. She was dressed really pretty and talked much more than she did before, I love my Little Ava. Bottom Line, The Party was Really Awesome. That Evening, Me and My Cousins decided to go swimming at the pool at the hotel that they were staying at, little did we know, that someone had gotten sick in it the day before and they had to clean it. So, they sent us to another pool that we (again) didn’t know was an Outdoor Pool (it was 50 Degrees & Raining outside). Yes, Don’t Worry, we made good out of it because there was Hot Tub and a Pool. Well, My Cousin Olivia and I decided to “Live Life” and do a “Polar Bear Plunge” into the cold pool. Now, mind you, it wasn’t a real Polar Bear Plunge because it was March, but that Pool was REALLY Cold. It was a good experiment and something I probably would not do again but, it was fun to do. Olivia will probably use her new motto, “Live Life to The Fullest! Polar Bear Plunge!”. The Next Morning, Which I am clearly not a Morning Person, We had Breakfast at The Hotel and then, My Mom, Michael, and I were back on the road to drive back Home. All in All, though it was a short trip, it was nice to spend Quality Time with My Family and as You know, that is My #1 Love Language! In the words of Grandma Honey(or Miss Jan), “Celebrate Everyday, Life, Love, Family, and Friends”

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. You May Love them, Hate them and They may drive you Crazy but, they are still Family.  

The Christianville Spirit: Lessons with Kidneys

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

March (Marzo) 21st, 2018-TCS # 587

Bonjour, My Readers! Out of All the Greetings I use, I feel that is The One I use The Most Frequently. It is French for Hello, To Me, It sounds so Elegant, so Classy when It is Said. Say it with Me in Deep Classy Voice, Bonjour! So, on to This Week’s Newsletter. I have been prolonging this Newsletter because I don’t understand all My Kidney Stuff   and I don’t want to make it seem bad because It really isn’t, It just requires a Little Rerouting in How it works. So, First, Let me explain, My Kidney Episode. The Last Time, I had it was back in 2014, but This Time was less painful than The Last One I had. I basically felt it moving at 3 in The Morning. To Me, It was like I could feel it happening. It would Come, then Pain, then Click, and Fizz. That is The Best Way I can describe it. It made me a little worried, but, At least it was moving. Then, The Movements stopped, Each passing one, gobbled together and in came The Pain. This Time It came in The Middle of The Night, so I was up all night Tuesday Two Weeks ago with that. It took a lot of getting up to Get Sick (I did it 3 Times), I sat and rocked to The Pain and that helped a little bit. I was Very Frustrated that It came back again. I mean, I had a Pain once before, But that was My Intestines. I will tell you that It did not hurt as Bad as The Last Time that I had Kidney Stones back in 2014. Still though. After about 6 AM, I felt it dissolve in My Bladder. We tried calling a Nephrologist later that Day and went round and round trying to get an Appointment. They said The Next Day and then, cancelled saying We should go to The ER. At The Height of a Nasty Flu Season, Heck No! 

Plus, It really would not classify as an “Emergency” because It had already passed and We wanted to know If There was Damage to The Kidneys.

We were able to get an Appointment but, I had to get My Blood Drawn for The Second Time This Year. Went to one Lab and They could not get My Vein, and The Next Morning (Thursday), We went to One of The Main Labs and They got it right away. I have Very Stubborn Veins, They are like Rubber, as My Mom says where They should be like a Wet Macaroni Noodle. That Monday, I got a Scan on My Side to see if There was Any Damage or Anything in There. So, Now come The Results, which is Difficult to Explain due to the Medical Side of It. So, My Blood Test came back saying that There was a lot of Calcium in My Blood. My Kidneys themselves are Fine, No Damage. My Urine Test saying that There was Calcium in there and It had been in little Calcium Crystals in There. When I think of this, I think of those old Milk Commercials saying (in a Narration Voice) “Milk has Calcium and Calcium builds Strong Bones!” It was enough to convince that Yes, Milk plus Calcium equals Strong Bones. The Thing though is, which I can confirm now, like it or not, Having PTLS makes it difficult to absorb The Calcium to make The Strong Bones. You See, Normally The Calcium goes into The Body, to The Blood, to The Bones, to Make Them STRONG! Then, with Me and PTLS, It does not do that for Some Reason that I am struggling to figure out as well as My Mom is. It seems as though, I am getting Calcium, but It is not going to The Right Place, It is basically, going to The Body, To The Blood and circling. The Only Way out, I would imagine is Either through Your Poop or Through The Kidneys to The Urine. Now, will that cause Problems with My Kidneys? God I hope not. But, My Kidneys would probably have to be Checked very couple years, or Maybe just make it part of The Yearly Physical. It is Frustrating to Me, because I wish I knew what is going on and What will go on in The Future. Being an Adult of The PTLS Community, meaning that Everyone sees What I am doing to see What will be of Their Child, I mean don’t get me wrong, It is The Highest Honor that I can have in My Life and I would never give it up in Any Way. But, There is also that little side of me that would like for Someone to tell Me what I have ahead of Me, then I can Chain it down to The Rest of The PTLS Community that is following me. In Turn, We can all Learn as we go, as a Chain of a PTLS Family. Sometimes, though like it or not, I have to be The One to Learn Things about How PTLS Effects Me so that I can Chain them and “Pass The Information On!”. Now, Will I be Okay? Absolutely! I Guess it is One of Those Perks of The Job. A Curve Ball, A Learning Curve. Those Darn Curves get me every time! What will I do about it? I don’t know. My Mom and I trying ways to Reroute The Calcium to My Bones, to Make them strong, instead of going The Other Way. We have tried Vitamin C Supplements to see if that might work, but That is in Testing Stages at The Moment. So, We are working on It. In Terms of Feeling Better, I am feeling better with Less than Occasional “Flank” Pain every once and while but, We Humans pass Kidney Stones (Small Ones!) Every Day and You usually barely notice. But, It is The Bigger Ones that You do notice. All in all, That is The Best that I could do to Explain Everything, I hope it does Teach You Something because It is certainly Teaching Me something!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Your Body does Weird Things, Learn about It!

The Christianville Spirit: PTLS on The Red Carpet Rerun

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience 

March (Marzo) 14th, 2018-TCS # 586

Welcome Back, My Readers! I hope that You had an Excellent PTLS Awareness Day! PTLS Members and Friends, I want to Thank You very Much for Doing All that You did to Help Spread Awareness of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. It touches My Heart so Much! You Guys wore Green, Literally All Over The World; A lot of You helped Raise Money for PTLS as well as The PTLS Foundation; PTLS Member, Stacey did a Bake Sale that She did Brilliantly; Several People had Birthday Fundraisers on Facebook including My Grandma Honey and Most Notably, Family Friend, Scott Lerew (Thanks a Bunch, Uncle Scott!); and, Of Course, PTLS Family Members, Friends, PTLS Relations, Teachers, and so on, gathered for Pictures of Themselves with PTLS Green and Facebook was a Sea of Green! It was Amazing, Folks! It is all Thanks to You My PTLS Family Members and Friends. Oddly, Thanks to The Very First Person who had PTLS (Wherever They are) because Potocki-Lupski Syndrome (Duplication 17p11.2) would not be here, If It weren’t for That Person. So, on to This Week’s Newsletter

So, I am sure that You saw that I mentioned about My Kidney Episode and PTLS, Well, I am close to Confirming It but, I am a bit Busy This Week because My PTLS “Brother”, Tyler is in Town as well as The Fact that It is a bit Hard to explain about it, which I need Time to explain it. So, I will do that Next Week. However though, I am not going to Leave You, High and Dry. So, I am going to Rerun a Newsletter that Explains How We got The Idea of The PTLS Green Shirts. FYI, My Favorite PTLS Green Shirt is The Hunter Green with The PTLS Key in Front, It is Very Simple! Anyway, Keep Spreading The Green for The Rest of March (Marzo) and The Rest of The Year!

This Newsletter was written on March (Marzo) 18th of 2015 (Refer to Newsletter 442)

So, My Readers, I have something really Exciting to Tell You about! You See, as I have mentioned before, It is PTLS Awareness Month and The Motto for it is “Be Seen, Wear Green” or “Be Seen, Wear Green for The Happy PTLS Gene”. So, This is The Background before I get to The Exciting Story and I promise you, it is worth reading this part before The Exciting Story. Anyway, Last Month, My Mom was trying to come up with Ideas about PTLS Awareness Month and How to Celebrate It. Well, My Mom thought that it would be a Good Idea to make shirts for Our “Be Seen, Wear Green” PTLS Awareness Campaign. So, PTLS Family Member, Natalie Hinkin asked My Mom, “Do We have any Shirts in Green?” My Mom said, “No, but that is a Good Idea”. Sure, enough Natalie created a Campaign on a site called Booster.com and started selling Shirts with The PTLS Key on It (Because that is the Logo of PTLS) for 2 weeks. We sold over 100 Shirts in 24 Hours (Not Kidding You!) and, 500 Shirts in Two Weeks. Well, on PTLS Awareness Day, PTLS Members all over The World posted Pictures of Themselves, Family Members, Friends, Teachers, The List goes on! Of them in Their Green PTLS “Key” Shirts. That Campaign is still going on, It is at booster.com/beseenweargreen3 (Editors Note: This Campaign Site is Closed), Check it Out, Buy a Shirt, and Help Us Raise Awareness about Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. For Those that have already bought shirts and supported us, I Thank You from The Bottom of My Heart! It is amazes me that So Many People are wearing Green for The PTLS Gene! Remember though, that it is not just March to celebrate PTLS, You can celebrate All Year as Well! So, Let’s Hear about that Exciting Story! I am sure you are Thinking, Get on with It! Okay, Okay, Fine. So, Yesterday, was Saint Patrick’s Day and My Mom and I decided to go out to Dinner with a Friend of Hers. We figured that we would also show off Our Green PTLS “Key” Shirts as well. Well, it just so happened that There was a Hollywood Premiere of The Movie, Home across The Street. Well, The People at Good Morning America did a Contest in which a Non-Profit could Win the Premiere in Their City and Money for Their Non-Profit. Well, a Non-Profit in Plano won and The Premiere was held here. So, My Mom and I figured that we would check it out on our way to Dinner, since Our Dinner-mate was in Traffic anyway. Well, My Mom being The Awesome Mom that She is, figured, “Hey! This is Good Opportunity to Pitch PTLS!” We were wearing our Green anyway. So, We stood and watched for a while before we decided to get up close to the Red Carpet. There were Stars there that I have seen Many Times on TV or Heard about from Radio but, have never seen in person. Among Them, Tony Romo (He walked by and No Knew who he was), Jake Pavelka (From The Bachelor, Took me a second to figure out who He was), Kellie Rasberry (From Kidd Kraddick in The Morning on KISS-FM. Used to Listen to Them Every Morning on the Way to School. But, Didn’t realize who She was), J-Si (from a Show called Dish Nation on FOX, I don’t watch that show), Of Course, I can not forget to Mention the Biggest Stars of The Movie, Rihanna (The Singer) and Jim Parsons (Sheldon from “The Big Bang Theory”). You should have heard The Screaming Girls when Rihanna walked by! Anyway, in between when Rihanna passed by and Jim Parsons was on His Way, My Mom figured that She would teach J-Si and Kellie Rasberry about PTLS. After Jim Parsons walked by, We talked more closely with J-Si about PTLS, He was really Nice to Me. He shook my hand, saying, “What’s Your Name” I told My Name and My Mom continued with Talking about PTLS. After People settled down, My Mom was looking around at Everyone and seeing who She could talk to about Me when I noticed a Camera Guy walk past with The Microphone saying, “News Fix” which is a Local News Program that is different than the others. I said, “Mom, That Guy is from ‘News Fix!‘“ Mom is probably “What? What did He say?” I don’t speak as Clearly since after My Braces, A Story for Another Time! I said, “News Fix, like Channel 9!” I think if I would have said, That’s The Guy from Channel 9, She would have got it quicker. She did talk to that guy though and She gave him her Card with The PTLS Information on It. Okay, I am Sorry to say but, I have The Coolest Mom in The World, aside from My Uncle Craig, The Coolest Uncle in The World. He probably would have gotten us ON The Red Capet, Uncle Craig is THAT Kind of Guy. Ohh, The Smith Family, I tell ya! Anyway, as We were leaving heading to Dinner (We stayed a bit too long!) My Mom told me “I was a Media Hog” in a clean way. So, To say that We had an Awesome Saint Patrick’s Day would be an Understatement. All in all, Our “Be Seen, Wear Green” Campaign is going strong and I Thank You All for That! Oh, and Happy early Birthday, Mom!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Keep on Supporting Our PTLS Green!

The Christianville Spirit: The Best Of PTLS Awareness Day

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilence

March (Marzo) 7th, 2018-TCS # 585

Happy Potocki Lupski Syndrome Awareness Month, My Readers! Actually, Tomorrow is Potocki-Lupski Syndrome Awareness Day. Wow! That is a Mouthful! So, First Things, First. Where was I Last Week? Well, I had another Kidney Stone Episode again! The Last Time, I had it was back in 2014, but This Time was less painful than The Last One I had. I basically felt it moving at 3 in The Morning and then, It stopped and in came The Pain, This Time It came in The Middle of The Night, so I was up all night Last Tuesday with that. After about 6 AM, I felt it dissolve in My Bladder. I got a Scan on My Side the other day so, We should find out soon how it turns out. I am Finding out another Element of PTLS but, I need to confirm it before I can Talk to You about it. So, In Light of That, Let’s Talk about PTLS Awareness Month! So, To be Clear, PTLS Awareness Day is March (Marzo) 8th and PTLS Awareness Month is The Entire Month of March (Marzo) so You can “Be Seen and Wear Green” at Anytime of The Month. So, At The Realization that I repeat The Story of How PTLS was Named (In My View). I have decided to give you a “Best of” Newsletter. A Newsletter with References to The Original Story of The Naming of PTLS Awareness Day/Month as well as a Rerun of What I feel is The Best Newsletter that I have written on or near PTLS Awareness Day. So, This is The List of What I am calling, My “Christian’s Best Of PTLS Day Newsletters”

Unseen Newsletter about PTLS (2015)

The History of PTLS Awareness Day (2014)

My Love For PTLS (2013)

So, Now that We have that. This Next Section is a Perfect Explanation of How I feel that PTLS Awareness Day is like.

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. (This is  The Best PTLS Day Newsletter) 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 30 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. The Spirit that Brings Awareness? That is The Christianville Spirit.

(Credit to Friend, Sherry Seibold)