The Christianville Spirit: My Adventure List- Part 1 (Mini-Series)

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Gives Hope

January 29th, 2020-TCS # 673

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. So, There are Many Places that I have always Dreamed of Going. Adventures that in The Back of My Mind, I would do with The Woman of My Dreams, Bridgett or The Future Love of My Life, whoever that may be. I, like Most People have a List of Places that I would want to, actually More on The Lines, of Dreaming to go to. Most People would call it a “Bucket List”, I would like to Call it “My Adventure List”. Places that I have always Dreamt of going to. Two of Them, I have done already, Sweden because It is One of My Favourite Countries, among Many; Getting to That in a Minute and Of Course, Getting to Ride on The German Autobahn. But, As I have always been told “The Best is Yet to Come”. Back to My Favourite Countries Thing, They are The Nordics of Sweden and Norway; Switzerland (and, Other Alps Neighbouring Countries like Austria); and, Finally, Italia (Italy). In All Honesty, I used to have a Brilliant “Google Plus” Page that I could Share Articles about My Dream Places in both Romanticism and In General. Because “Google Plus” was not being used, by Other Users, They decided to Kill it. So, I had to move a lot of Those “Dream/Adventure Place” Article over to a Facebook Page that I called “Travels with Map Man”. I do Post on It from Time to Time, If I see an Article about A Place on “My Adventure List”. Now, Of Course, It isn’t JUST a Place to see, There are Reasons of Going. So, I am going to do a 3-Part Mini-Series about Place that I have Always Dreamt of going and why. So, without a Further a due, This is The Christianville Spirit Mini-Series “My Adventure List”.

The First Country on My “Adventure List” is a Country on My Favorites Countries List that both My Dreaming Self and Romanticism Self want to go is, You guessed it.... Switzerland. Oh Yes, Switzerland. Capitol is Bern. Ahem (Clearing Throat) It should be Zurich. It is a lot easier to Remember! Sorry, but that is My Own Bias! But, Bern is their, In Their Words “De-facto” Capitol. They speak Four Languages! German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Currency is The Swiss Frank. Bonus! They are oddly not part of The European Union, but They are part of The Schengen Agreement (Refer to “My Fascination with Europe” Newsletter about that!). I think It has Partly to do with The Fact that They are Politically Neutral Country and, Of Course, Besides that The Country is Very Wealthy and Expensive, It is Very Clean. As in, Your Plants that hang from Your Balcony have to hang a Certain Way! Switzerland is a Fascinating Country for A Lot of Reasons. Why would You not Love This Country?! Great Food, They have Cheese Fondue and Heaps of Real Genuine Chocolate (That is enough to Make Your Mouth Water!); Great People, The People, they know how to Yodel! If You ask Nicely, I am sure that They will Show Proudly of Their Home Country! A Note in Here, Make Sure to Hello in The Local Language (Any of The Four) when You enter a Store, Do Make Sure that You are Punctual (They are Literally The King of Being on Time), Learn How to Wait (They call it Queuing), and Don’t Act too Foreign (Although Maybe that is more of an Expat Rule!). And, Of Course, One can not Forget about The Biggest Thing of All, The Unbelievable Postcard “I am Dreaming” Mountains! Yes, You get The Mountains in France or Italy and Don’t get me Wrong, those are Beautiful too, I would Love to see them too but, Switzerland has The Biggest, Tallest, and Heaviest Mountains! The Romantic in Me, has always dreamt of Me and The Woman of My Dreams (or Love of My Life), hanging out in a Chalet, with a Pool overlooking Mountains like that of a Town called Zermatt. I have seen Several Articles about Zermatt and I have seen Many Articles in TripAdvisor about Zermatt. I have Literally an Entire “Dream Trip” of Hotels and Things that I have dreamt of doing, or at least, Trying to do Anyway on My TripAdvisor Account about Switzerland! Zermatt is in There (Hello Chalet and Yes, even a Point where You can stand on The Border of Italia and Switzerland and Looking down at The Town of Zermatt below!), Interlaken (Check out The 007 Restaurant atop One of The Highest Mountains!) , Driving from Sankt Margarthen (Near Germany and Austria) Past The Town of Chur (Pronounced like “Her” with a German Accent), Across San Bernardino Pass, and Going into What I call Como-Chiasso. Como, Italy and Chiasso, Switzerland, and Of Course, Seeing The International Olympic Center (IOC) in Lucerne, among Many Other Places in Switzerland. Honestly, It is My Dream to see Austria too! And, I explained that briefly in “My Fascination with Europe” Newsletter about The Amount of Countries It Borders! But, I digress. All in all, I have Dreamt of going to Switzerland, As Well as The Rest of The Alps’ Countries. I hope I can go Very Soon!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Everyone has a List! What is on Yours?

The Christianville Spirit: Anxiety and Too Many Voices

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Brings Hope

January 22nd, 2020-TCS # 672

Hoi, My Readers! I present to You, a New Greeting! This Greeting is from the Netherlands, Holland, or Both. Hoi, which I am told is pronounced like It looks, Hoy. Hoi, by the way, is Dutch for “Hi” commonly said among People that You know. Alternatively, Hallo (like the German and Swiss German Hallo) is used to say “Hello”. In Trying to come up with One of My Common Greetings, I thought of This One. I heard actually that The Famous All-About-Special-Needs “Welcome to Holland” Poem has an Extension called “Welcome to Holland-Part 2”. If You don’t know about it, be sure to check it out after Reading My Newsletter. Priorities, People! So, Anxiety. It is not something that a lot of Us Humans think about. We get Anxious about Trying Something Frightening, We get Anxious where Someone is being Creepy, and Of Course, We get Anxious when There is Danger. However, Anxiety is whole nother’ Ballgame for Us PTLSers. For US PTLSers, We will get Anxious about Trying Something New, a New Environment for The First Time, People Around Us, Gooey Substances (or at least for Me Anyway), Among Many Other Things. I explain it Best in Two Newsletters. So, This is going to be a Double Feature! The First Newsletter explains about Too Many Voices at One Time and The Second Newsletter is about Anxiety Thoughts.

This Newsletter was Originally written on August 28th of 2019 (Refer to Newsletter 652)

-1st Newsletter-

So, My Mom and I had Another Great Discussion last week that I forgot to mention about. So, She was looking at Meme’s for a Second on a Facebook Page called “Empaths, Old Souls, and Introverts” and She came across a Meme that She shared that said, “An Empath’s Nerves can get frayed by Noise, Smells, or Excessive Talking”. She nodded at Me and said “That’s You Guys with PTLS!”. I came over to her and read the Meme and I said “Amen to that!”. Then, I went into an Explanation that I thought that I told her before but, I’m not sure if I had or not. An “Only In My Mind” kind of Thing. First of All, Yes, PTLSers are actually both Empaths and Old Souls. “You are Wise Beyond Your Years, Christian”, a lot of People, both PTLS Family Members and Friends tell me. As for The Introvert Thing, In a Way, We are. We tend to be Homebodies. and, in a Way, We are Not. We are Out going when We want to be. I tell her that it is Not Always for Me to go to a Party or Places where People are talking loudly and Music is playing Loudly. Like When I am at Party, I wanted to talk to a Group of People about a Subject that either happening in My Life or in Cases where I can, Politics. But, Then, There comes a Time when The People I am around start Talking about something boring, or The People in Another Group are talking about Sometimes, I want to. It makes me Anxious, do I join in or not. I think that is a Common Problem with A lot of People though. the Give and Take of Conversations and Of Course, What I call “Voices Overlapping” is what makes me Anxious The Most. What is “Voices Overlapping”, that is basically when Two or More People are talking at The Same Time about Roughly The Same Thing. An Example that I can think of is when I was at Grandma Honey’s House. My Mom and Grandma Honey wanted me to do something, but Voiced at The Same Time, I said “Hold On! Voices Overlapping! One person at a Time!” Then, I asked one-by-one, what each of them wanted. The Give and Take Thing is The Hardest! Let’s Say that Myself, PTLS Brother, Tyler, A PTLSer that I will refer to as “MP Twinee ” and My Lil’ PTLS Sis’, McKenna all are talking about A Subject. Me and “MP Twinee” are talking about Something, then McKenna jumps saying, “But, Like” about The Subject at Hand, but Tyler mentions something Funny and We start laughing about it. Several Topics later, McKenna (or I, in Many Cases than I care to admit) talk about The Subject that We talked a Couple subjects ago. The Thing is that, We think of an Idea to The Conversation and Want to talk about It, but by the Time We get The chance to mention it, The Subject that Our Idea was in, has already passed. 2 or 3 Subject Matters ago. Now, Baring in Mind, It is not always McKenna that will do that, It could also be Me or “MP Twinee” or even, Tyler. It is All of Us PTLSers that could do it. Somehow, In Social Convention, It can be seen as being Rude or not being Very Sociable. We are Very Sociable but, Just in a Different Way. Here is A Rerun about “Voices Overlapping” in More Ways than One. 

This Newsletter was written on September 28th of 2016 

(Refer to Newsletter 513)

-2nd Newsletter-

Happy Autumn, My Readers! Sorry Guys, I forgot to wish you a Happy Autumn last week. So, Happy Autumn anyway. I like that word, Autumn, it actually sounds better than Fall. Anyway, on to This Week’s Newsletter. So, when I scroll through My Facebook News Feed, Interesting Stories pop up (I call them “Push Backs” because I send them to Safari and I read them after I get done with Facebook) that I find to Read. Most are about Travel or Romance. But, This One got to Me. It was an Article from a Special Needs Advocate Blog called “The Mighty”. This Article was about What It is like with High-Functioning Anxiety. That basically means that I can do a lot by Myself but, We have Anxieties to go with it. I am thinking that Anxiety is a common trait of People with Special Needs and that includes PTLS. Don’t get me Wrong, I Love PTLS, I Love having PTLS, I would never trade it for The World. Do I wish that There were Certain Attachments (or Clauses) that I would edit or get rid of? Sure I would. The Biggest Attachment I would want to get rid of, is You guessed it, Anxiety. Anyway, This Blog post on “The Mighty” explained in My Head, Perfectly what it is like with Anxiety being a High-Functioning Person with Special Needs. It mentioned also to Blog about It to Help You, as well as Others Understand, and That is what I am doing. So, When I am Anxious, according to My Mom, You can usually tell. If I am Anxious about a Certain Event, I get different ranges of symptoms, like a little Gagging (when I was little or in extreme situations), Throwing Up (in real extreme situations), Sweating, or Digestive Issues. Usually, My Mom can tell I am Anxious because I have a “Look” on My Face that says it all. We call it the “Something is bothering me/Face of Fear/I’m going to be Sick” Face. But, What about Anxiety Stress, I believe that The Article was referring to? Well, when I am stressed I tend to act different than What I normally do. I am more Quiet when I am normally Talkative, I ask a lot of questions, I get Headaches more often, Most of This Stuff I have written about before, and then Something that I have never mentioned is Something I like to called “My Curiosity thoughts”. Basically, They are, as My Mom says, “Intrusive Thoughts” that Everyone has normally, that usually goes in and then Pass Through, like how new parents worry about dropping a baby while they are holding them. They know they will not do it, but the thought “Pops” in their head. But, For Me, It “Pops in” and then I obsess about it, and Then I have to let it Out somehow. It really bothers me when these Thoughts Pop in. I know they will not happen, but They sure are Bothersome. The Best Way I have found to let them out is either Blurting it Quickly, Say “Sorry Mom”(even though my mom did not even hear what I said), Hug, and Move on or I say it in a Joke form. Other Times, I would tell it to “Shut Up” and hope it goes away, and Get it to Pass Through. It can range anywhere from “Should I say or do this?”, and Not-So-Nice Words. Now, I would never actually do or say any of those things because I have No Mean Bone in My Body and I hate when They come in. It really Annoys Me when I have a “Curiosity Thought”! I have realized that When I am Anxious about Something that is going to happen that I am Not sure about, They start to show up more than I would like them to. I am wondering also if I am Imitating things that I see or hear about. Considering that I watch The News everyday to hear about What is going on in The World, which I use to Teach me things about How The World works, it is not good. I am struggling to even write this because It is hard to explain What is in My Head. My Mom looked it up one time about The Thoughts and Told me that It is common for those that have Autism to have those “Curiosity Thoughts”, but I read that Those with Autism tend to follow through with The Thoughts, where I would not. It makes me wonder though, It is a Little-Known but, Common Theory for those PTLS as well. The Article mentioned that You tend to have Self-Damning (If You will) Thoughts like Your not good enough, Your a Bad Friend, Your a Loser, Your Pathetic and It is basically Energy that needs to get out somehow. They say to Exercise, Walk, Run, or Just talk it out. But, Not to go all Psychology on You, but, Those Kinds of Thoughts are Common for Everyone. It is how “The Enemy” (as I explained in a Previous Newsletter) tries to Get you, to Upset You, and Pull You away from Your Destiny, that is his (It sounds better) job. I am thinking “It” should get a New Job. I often worry that I will have those Thoughts even in My Future, with My Future Wife around. I am sure that She will change that, at least I would think. I will always have some kind of Anxiety but, I would rather get rid of that one. All in all, I hope that You understand that It is Hard to get what is in My Head out for You can Understand.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. We all have ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts) in Our Head, Get a Hug and Let them go.

The Christianville Spirit: Dents in Independence Rerun

"PTLS Gang" searching for Independence

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Brings Hope

January 15th, 2020-TCS # 671

Let’s Talk about Independence, My Readers! Wow! A Great Greeting and Very Different! Ah Yes! Independence! Through The Eyes of a Typical Adult, Independence is really not that Hard. I would Imagine anyway. Eventually, You decide One Day that You feel like Living on Your Own, away from Mommy and Daddy (Mom and Dad) and Figure that If Your going to do it, It might as well be Now. Everyday Care Things like Shaving, Grooming, Driving, and The Like are Things that You just do, You don’t have think about it. Well, except for Driving, that You have to think about all the time, to Make Sure that You are in the Right Lane, Making sure if Where All the Cars around are, and Of Course, Watching The Road ahead of You. However, in The Mind of Someone like Me, with PTLS, It is not at all Easy! You do have to think about all those Everyday Things in More Detail because We are Detail Oriented. Independence, although It is Something that I am gradually doing, One by One, It is still a Struggle for Me! I am reminded of This because First of all, Since The Newsletter that I am going to Rerun was written, My Independence has gotten a lot better, including staying home alone for long weekends (including one caring for a Sick Puppy), successfully ordered food for me, even though I can make my own meals, and a big one, 4 out of 7 Laser Hair Removal Treatments completed and Honestly, I can’t wait to finish them! So, The Newsletter that I am going to rerun explains more about My Struggle for Independence. Enjoy!

This Newsletter was Originally Written on January 13th of 2016 (Refer to Newsletter 481)

So, My Readers, I have been Watching This Interesting Show that I want to Tell you about. When I was first told about This Show, I was told that It was a Documentary about People with Down Syndrome. Thinking that It would be a Documentary, sort of like that of Catfish, I thought it would be a Sad Look at Those who Lived with Down Syndrome, but It actually was not. You See, It actually was a Reality/Documentary Show about The Day-to-Day Lives of Young Adults with Down Syndrome. It was Very Interesting to watch and See some of The Similarities that They have in Terms of Morals and Values, Not so much in Physical or Developmental versus Those with PTLS. Before This, I always thought that Down Syndrome Adults were completely different than Us PTLSers. In Other Words, I thought Down Syndrome was one thing and PTLS was another. It is only in The Sense of Genetics that it is in and Health Issues are Just different. But, In The General Sense, They are like us. I saw a lot of Common Themes, The Guys wanted to Get Married and have Girlfriends, While The Girls wanted more of a Baby and Getting Married. Hmm, just like PTLSers. They do have struggles like with Jobs, Irrational Fears, and of Course, The Biggest One, Independence. Watching This Show really made me realize all the similarities us Special Adults have, We are generally Happy People, and that We all struggle with Wanting Our Dreams to come true, but Don’t Realize The Toll (In My Head, I picture a Toll Booth that does not always have Passes to Get Through) to Get to Their Dream or To What They want in Life. In My Case, I want a Job that is Geared toward My Interest, which is Geography, All while having a Moderate Speed-but-Predictable Style of Work. Like The Down Syndrome Young Adults, I do want to Find My Soulmate and Get Married (Not sure about Proposing and Wedding with My Anxiety though!), I hope to Live in a Nice Place with My Soulmate, Near My Mom and Brother, The Smith Family, and Some of My PTLS Family as Well. But, The Toll to pay, or at least I would believe is Independence or At Least, Some Independence. I mentioned about This in My New Years Newsletter and I thought that I would mention about that. You See, Independence to Me, I need Enough that I can do some things on My Own, should anything happen to My Mom; I also need it for My Own Benefit. So, that Brings to What I call, “The Dents”, What are The Biggest Dents in My Independence? Other than My Anxiety about it, that plays a Big Part in it. The Biggest Dent, I would say, has to be Grooming and I struggle with it a lot. Shaving is a Big One! You See, Due to My Motor Skills and Lack of 3D, It is Hard to correlate My Hands with What I see in The Mirror, It is in Reverse which confuses me. It is like Shaving in Literal Reverse. I can cover the Top Half of My Face on My Own (from Sideburns-Chin-Sideburns) with a Bit of Patience, but The Bottom Part, Not so much. It bugs me to Shave The Bottom (South of Chin to Adam’s Apple) because It feels funny to me, It hurts a bit but, not in a Painful Way, if that makes sense). Usually when I am at Home, I shave the Top part and What I can of The Bottom, If We are going out, then I need My Mom to shave it. Like I mentioned Last Week, There is usually Two Options, either to Let It Grow into a Beard or Remove it via Laser Hair Removal, which is Very Painful and has to be Done more than Just Once. I would Love to just be put to Sleep and then, Do It so I don’t feel it. Now, Of Course, We have tried Every Razor that I have thought of, From Electric to Straight. I tried shaving once and that was with a Straight-One Blade Razor at My Dad’s Mom’s (We called her “Bella”) House once. I tried it, it got stuck, I panicked, and Ripped A Little Skin off on My Face. It was not Pretty, A little Funny to describe it now though! The Next Dent is My Nose and Top Half of My Face, for Some Reason and I have never mentioned this to Anyone before, but My Face gets really oily and My Skin starts peeling, It looks like Chafing, sort of. We try to put to Lotion on It or Wipe it with a Cleaning Pad, and It works sometimes but, Usually My Face ends up looking Red and The Peeling starts again. It is Weird and Very Hard to Explain. Leaving The Dent of Grooming Section, the Next Dent is Driving/Transportation. You See, My Reaction Response Time is Not that Fast and Therefore, I would be a Danger to those on The Road as well as Those on The Road would be a Danger to Me. If We lived in Smaller Town where People knew who I was, then, Maybe I could Consider Driving. Many PTLSers have Attempted Driving but, For Their Safety, They had to stop. I can say that I do know somewhat of How to Drive. I have Driven a Go-Cart that We had in My Childhood, I even drove My Brother’s Car in Our Neighborhood once and That was, to say the least, Interesting. So, I would need someone to help me with Getting Me Places. One of Things in The Show that One of The Young Adults struggled with, was Counting Money and That is Not Easy for Me either. It seems like People with Special Needs across The Board, are Very Literal, so Math is not a Strong-suit, unless That is, It is Applied to Something in Their Life, that is relatable. Geography and Numerology are Relatable to Me.  I would need a Bit of Help with figuring that out. As Far as Grocery Shopping goes, I can figure out What Item is in What isle it is in, but in terms of Complicated Things like Expiration Dates and The Cost comparison in Ounces versus The Total Cost, I would need help with. The Next Dent is Cooking, for The Most Part I can make Meals with a Microwave or Crockpot. But, The Oven or Stove, scares me that I will burn Myself and I don’t want that. I would need to Someone to help me make Prepared Meals to put in The Freezer. Other than That, I am pretty Independent. I can Dress Myself, Feed Myself, Do The Laundry, Clean The House, and Take Care of the Dogs. All in all, I might have a Few Dents but, I am generally Independent.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Born This Way is Not only a TV Show, but It is How I see Life. 

The Christianville Spirit: Rant about Parents Rerun

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Brings Hope

January 8th, 2020-TCS # 670

Spread Hope and Love, My Readers! Nice Greeting This Week, I would say! While Patting Myself on The Back and Saying “Thank You”! Hope and Love equal to Joy! You Know when You are doing what You are supposed to be doing when You hear or see references to it All The Time. In This Case, After The New Year started and I choose The Tagline of The Year, I kept hearing The Word, “Hope”. Whether It was talking to My Mom about Something or Hearing It on The News or on Television I always would hear The Word, “Hope”. I think, that is a Sign that I am doing the Right Thing and I choose, literally The Perfect Tagline and Theme of My Newsletter for The Year. Every So often, Whether It is a New PTLS Family Member or Even one that I have known a Long Time, Sometimes tend to Think that Their Child won’t accomplish anything in Their Life, Basically that Finding out that Their Child has PTLS or Knowing for a Long Time that Their Child has PTLS, They think that It is pretty much a Curse and that The Syndrome will basically limit what will Happen in Their Life. Oh! They won’t Drive, Have a Significant Other, Get Married, Whatever Block that You think will be put on Them. Let Me Tell Ya! It is All in Your Mind! Yes, They will do Everything (within Reason) that You might want them to do, but They will do it in Their Own Way. They may do it slower than Others or Even in a Different Timeline, but Believe me, They will do it! I will let The Me from Last Year explain. 

So, Being in The Honored Self-Appointed PTLS Ambassador, Meeting PTLS Family Members as well as Proudly Talking about PTLS as an adult with this is just what I do. This Job, not really a Paying Job but, Something I do that I like to say is a Job, comes with Talking to and Meeting PTLS Family Members, therapists and Teachers from All over The World. I get them in all Kinds! The Veterans, Those who have been here since the Beginning, as in before PTLS was named and going into The Naming of PTLS; There are The Post-Naming of PTLS, Family Members Those who are told that Their Child has Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. Now, Some Members are Blessed to have a Doctor that will learn some of It and Tell them a little bit about it. Then, Of Course, The Doctors that don’t know anything about it. In Other Words, they might as well as be Saying that Your Child has some foreign syndrome, Don’t know what it is, Okay, Move On! Next Patient, Please! Okay, so the Doctors are kind as they can be, but I am sure that That is What The Members feel like happened. Perhaps, The Doctor did say something about it but, All the Parent heard was “Your Child has Something called Potocki-Lupski Syndrome..” It is Sort of like Autism... (“Wah-Wah-Wah” Sound like Charlie Brown). So, These PTLS Family Members range from Pre-Veteran across Mid-Time and Into The Newer Side of The Family. The “Welcome to The Family” New PTLS Family Members, The Ones scared to Death, Literally. Okay, If You are New..I say with The Most Gentile Love and Hug and Saying, “Welcome to The Family! Everything will be Okay!”. The New People are usually the Ones that I want to Make Sure that They get the Most Accurate Information, from The PTLS Foundation as well as a Lot of Love, and to be, Given The Information at a Slow Pace, or Whatever Speed that They feel comfortable. Veterans, Imagine driving onto a High-Speed Highway where Everyone in The Far Left is Blazing By, Knowing and being Comfortable on The PTLS Highway, everyone is The Middle is going Fast to Medium Speed, and then, The Right Lane is going Slow, they are just learning! But, The Fast Ones think that You are in The Way, What Lanes do You choose as a New PTLS Family Member? Now, Yes, All of Us PTLS Family Members at Whatever Stage from Veterans to Brand New, at Some Point go through That Same Feeling. The Grieving Process. The Feeling of Your Child won’t quote-end-quote “Normal”. I would say “Who Cares about Being Normal?! Normal is Soo Overrated!” Now, No, I’m not saying “Get over It” But, I am saying that It is Your Process that as a Member of The Family and Yes, even Our Veterans go through it Every Once and While. But, It is Okay! Oh Yeah, Do Remember what I said about The “Normal” Thing, Repeat it over and over. Eventually, You. Yes, You, My Reader, will Believe It! Anyway, I wrote a Older Newsletter that I want to share that Might help with The Process! Okay, Good Talk Everyone! Big Group Hug in 3...2..1! Big Hug! Everything will Fine! and, Of Course, as I said before, Welcome to The Family!

The Newsletter that I am about to Rerun is a Christianville Classic is a Newsletter called “A Rant about Parents”. I believe that it explains perfectly about How Literal us PTLS’ers are.

As a Reminder, You can always Check The Christianville Classics List for Some of My Best Newsletters. Also, While I am at it. Anytime, You can send me Newsletter Suggestions on Topics on PTLS and Otherwise, that You, My Reader, would like to read about.  So, Without Further a Due, This is The Christianville Classic Newsletter, “A Rant about Parents”!

This Newsletter was written on June 4th of 2014 (Refer to Newsletter 404)

Welcome, My Readers! To a Fresh and Redone Site that is The Christianville Spirit! I decided that My Site needed a bit of Revamping, which was one of My New Year’s Goal. So, I hope You Guys enjoy it and Let Me Know what You think. So, Anyway, At the Recent Revelation, I know that it is always a shock to find out that Your Child has PTLS and You don’t know what it is or What to expect. To try and Help You Understand from My Prospective of having PTLS, How about I do this? I am going to do a Hilarious Rant, courtesy of Us PTLSers! This is to Prove to Everyone that We PTLSers are like Everyone Else. So, without further a due, Here it goes. 

Oh My Lord! I can’t tell you just how Worried My Parents are about Me! They are Concerned about Whether I am going to Eat, Walk, Talk, and Soo Many Other Things! First, The Eating. I am going to start Eating on MY Time, NOT Yours! It will be when I want to But, Please Feed Me something that I like! Even if It seems like The Most Ridiculous thing to always have the same thing every day, Day after Day, I like it that way. I may not like the texture, so it is going to take me time. On to Talking, as Chris Rock in Rush Hour says, “Can You Understand The Words That Are Coming Out of My Mouth!?” Because, let me tell you,  The words are Clear as Day in My Head! I know it must sound like I am speaking a Foreign Language to Them because It doesn’t seem like They Understand My Mumbles and Hums in Their Ears! I think I am speaking pretty clear, but they keep saying, “I cannot understand him. What is He saying?” So, I will work on making those words clear!

My Parents! They often take me to this Strange, Distressing, and Horrible Place, known as The Doctor’s Office! They poke and prod me like I am some of kind of Pin Cushion! I am just like You, Mommy and Daddy! I don’t Like It! I am sure I have to have these things done, but, I am a kid who does not Like it. So, Don’t Get too upset if I start Crying or not wanting to hold still, but do what you have to do to make sure I am healthy. Sometimes, I hear you getting upset either at Me or for Some odd Reason, because I am not doing what You want me to do. Really, I will progress and learn to do things, I just like to take my time. Just wait, it will happen when you Least expect it! My Parents! They take me to these Huge Places like Disney World as They tell me, “Ohh, This is going to be Soo Much Fun!” and There is SO MUCH NOISE! I can’t take it! Too Much Noise and Activity! I am Completely Overwhelmed! Tantrum coming in 3, 2, 1.  MOMMY, I WANT THIS THING! I DON’T WANT THAT! I wanna go Home! Once I am Home, Ahhhhh! Back to my  Nice, Quiet Routine. By The Way, I should mention that Routine is like Muy Importante to me! You see, it helps me. I Have to Wake Up at The Same Time (“Rise and Shine” as My Mom says), Eat at The Same Time, and of Course, Go to Bed at the Same Time, even if It means 2 O’ Clock in The Morning, for The Older PTLSers. I know parents have a hard time with this, but, jeez! I really need it! Oh, and when I get to meet other “People like Me” at first, I’m nervous about it thinking, “Oh Boy” this is going to tough.  Then, I am Excited once I get to Know them. When I see or read about my fellow baby PTLSers, I say, “Hey! They are doing what I did when I was that age! Let’s Imitate each other!” Please understand, I gotta be near Kids who are what My Parents call “Normal Kids” Hum... What is That? I do not know the difference! As We get older, We will find out what that “normal” is, but, It is Okay with us. It really does not bother us, unless you keep reminding us that we are not “normal”. In my mind (as I like to say all the time), I thought I was. Oh! I forgot to mention My Parents take me to This thing that They call “Therapy”. Day after day after day I go to see someone who helps me with moving my mouth trying to get me to talk. Then It is someone who is trying to get me to move in a certain way. Oh, sometimes it is just too much for me. Again, here comes a melt down! I don’t know what it is, sometimes it seems fun, but Gosh, Let Me Do Things at My Own Pace! I promise you I will get there! I am not good with figurative language, since I am so literal, but I think I was taught in my “figurative language class”, I Will cross that Bridge When I get to it! Just wait for Me to get to the other end of The Bridge. But, I have to say that my parents are so worried and they lose patience. What am I to do with Them? I wish I could tell My Parents that I am and Will Be Fine, even though to Them, I might not seem like it. So, from me and my fellow PTLSers (Especially the Babies Who are just beginning this Life), It is really Tough trying to teach you Parents about Us. So, We will be patient and Keep smiling, because that is what we do Naturally, and Stay Happy, because that is how we see life, and Wait for you to learn. Life is Really good in our eyes. You are doing a Great Job! So, All in all, Gosh My Parents worry about Me! But, I Worry about Them too and I Love Them!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Embrace PTLS, We are Humans just like You.

The Christianville Spirit: Happy New Year 2020!

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Gives Hope

January 2nd, 2020-TCS # 669

Welcome Back, My Readers from an Amazing Holiday Season! Time to Get back in Our Routines Again! As do I! It is Always My Honor to Welcome You to Another Year of Encouraging, Heart Warming and Hopeful Newsletters to come! but, First, Happy New Year and Welcome to 2020! Wow! 2020! Never thought I thought that I would say that! Growing Up, You always thought of a Year in The Future like The Year 2000, Anything after The Year 2000, considering The World-Ending Event of Y2K. So, The Year 2020 seemed so far away to One Time! Like saying, “The Year 2020?! Yeah, like That will ever happen!” or You hear about Some Awesome Project, be it on a Highway, a New Building, New Area of Town... You get The Idea and They say it like, Let’s say in 2015, that it won’t be Finished until 2020! Yeah! So Said Project will be Done This Year! Another Note, Which is Weird, is that People that were born in 1990 will be turning 30 This Year! Wow! Isn’t that Amazing?! Anyway, So The Tagline and Theme of 2020 is The Spirit that Gives Hope! This Year’s Tagline is credited to PTLS Family Member, Sally Morgan. You See, My Mom posted on Facebook for Suggestions about Taglines for The Year for My Newsletter, a Couple Years ago and She got a lot of Responses and So, I went through The Suggestions and Picked Sally’s. So, The Spirit that Gives Hope. Let’s Talk about that. First of All, Admitting that Yes, We are Human and No matter how Happy that We seem, We always, always need some kind of Hope. Hope for What? What kind of Hope? Well, In General, that is a Hard Question to answer for Two Reasons. One, It takes Guts to admit, Yes You do need Hope, Everyone does. But, Reason Number 2, One asks themselves “What Kind of Hope?” and Often, We don’t know the answer or more on The Lines of that We don’t want to hear The Answer because At Least, in an Average Human’s Mind, It means that We are Weak or that We need Hope. Truth, No, We are not Weak and Yes, All of Us need Hope. Now, As to What kind of Hope do You need. The Hard Answer, of course is that Only You know what kind of Hope that You need. Funny Thing, You may need Said Type of Hope more than One Time. Me, for Example, as Happy as I am, I have learned in 2019 that I tend to be, not just a Perfectionist, but a Little Harsh with Myself and I don’t think that I picked it up from Anybody or Any Experience in Life. I think (Keyword here, I think), It is just part of My Personality. So, The Hope I need is to Know and Believe that Not Everything in My World has to be Perfect. It can be Close to Perfect or Better Yet, Perfect for Me! It’s all about The Details with Me! Sometimes, Details (at least, Certain Details anyway) don’t Matter to The Story. To Me, They do, but Again that is Part of My Personality. As I told My Best Friend “M.P Twinee” that If I were on a Cruise Ship with Just the Right Amount of Activities, Enough Shows, Enough Free Places to Eat, because Some Cruise Lines like Royal Caribbean or Norwegian charge extra at “Specialty Restaurants” whereas Carnival doesn’t. We pull into Port and I see a Bigger and Taller Ship, I want to be on THAT Ship with The Bigger Things! But, Truth be told, I don’t need the Bigger Things! That is just My Perfectionist Ways! Hope basically says that Yes, I may want the Bigger Thing but, I need what I have at The Moment. Now, Of Course, Us Humans, We also don’t always need the Hope but, Someone Else in Our Presence (Yes, Even Strangers too!) need Hope. More often than Not, We, The Ones who have Hope should give Hope to Others. In My Humbly Self-Made Position of PTLS Ambassador, That I feel is The Number One Thing in The Job Description, is to Give Hope to PTLS Family Members that were Just Diagnosed or Those who did not know what Potocki-Lupski Syndrome was, in Their Lives A Couple Years ago. I know that When I show up for a PTLS Event, whether It is a PTLS Conference or a Sponsored PTLS Conference on The Road, that alone is Spreading Hope. I Humbly say that, I find that Pretty much Anywhere I go to, between My Mom and I, We always have a New PTLS Family Member or Even those that We have known a Long Time, to be in Tears and Saying, Thank You for All that We do in The PTLS Community and Most Importantly, Giving Them Hope that Yes, Their Child (and, Your Child too! Not Counting You Out here!) will be Fine. They may do things at Their Own Pace and At Their Own Speed, but Believe Me, They will do it. I will say that I take My Role very Seriously and It is Always My Honor to Give PTLS Family Members (and, Friends for that matter) Hope. The Best Part about Being Human though, is not Getting Hope but, Giving Hope. Let me Tell You that is The Best Thing of All! So, Before You Go and Give some Hope to People, Let Me tell You about My Goals! So, As You know, I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions because They fail all too quickly. So, Every Year Now, I come up with Goals with Love, Heart, and Of Course, with Hope. I have Learned that You can plan Goals and Destiny at The Time, says “Not Yet”. So, Maybe I should have My Goals more toward Where I want or Believe that Destiny wants me to go. I will still have My Goals but, This Year I am Letting My Angel Director of Destiny and Of Course, My Guardian Angel lead The Way because They know Where I am headed and Not what I want but, What I need!

So, Here are My 2020 Goals with Love and Hope in My Heart!

• I know, I said This Last Year and I am working on It but, I want True Love. The Kind of Love that makes you Complete as well as Love that You can perfect over The Years. Love that makes you Fall in Love over and over, and You never get Tired of It; that Laughing at Something really Mundane kind of Love; Lay Underneath The Christmas Tree together or like Laying on The Grass looking at The Stars, with only The Christmas Lights at Night kind of Love; Singing to Our Favorite Song kind of Love; and, The Kind of Heart that will Love You No Matter what You look like or What You are doing kind of Love! Director of Destiny, “Ma Take The Wheel” with This One!
• I do want My Mom and My Brother to find The Love of Their Lives too! And, for My Brother to become successful in What He Loves to Do because My Brother, Michael is worth it and deserves it!
• Remember that I am not Perfect, I don’t need to be Perfect and Don’t need Perfect! I Need to be Perfect for Me!
• Maybe have Faith’s Daughter teach me to Paddle Board. I would believe that Faith, herself, would still want me to at least try it.
• And, Finally in The PTLS Front. I Love Geography so I  want to travel more to Spread Awareness about PTLS.   I Really hope to make It to Italy This Year! That would be a Dream come true! Of Course, Can’t Forget about Spreading Hope to PTLS Family Members and Friends!

So, Those are My 2020 Goals! Honestly, I look forward to 2020 and I Hope and Believe that It will be One of The Best Year’s of My Life. I know that like Too High of Expectations but If I know a Thing or Two about Destiny. Sometimes, If You Believe, It will happen! Here’s to Destiny, to Hope, and a Very Happy New Year!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Whether You are Giving It or Getting It, Always have Hope!