The Christianville Spirit: The Truth about Expatriation

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

February 1st, 2017-TCS # 531

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

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

The Christianville Spirit: Fear of Difference

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

January 25th, 2017-TCS # 530

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Christianville Spirit: About The Airplane Gods

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

January 18th, 2017-TCS # 529

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Christianville Spirit: The Three Pillars of Faith

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

January 11th, 2017-TCS # 528

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

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

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

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

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

The Christianville Spirit: Happy New Year 2017

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

January 4th, 2017-TCS # 527

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Christianville Spirit: Christian's Year-In-Review 2016

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Encourages

December 28, 2016-TCS # 526

Well, My Readers, PTLS Family Members, and Friends, It looks like We have come to The End of Another Year here at The Christianville Spirit and What a Year it was. It has been an Encouraging Year! See what I did there, hehe! This Year’s Tagline was “The Spirit that Encourages” and It was credited to PTLS Member, Roselle Hollard for suggesting that Name!  

I know that I mentioned Last Week about This but, I felt like This Year of 2016 was a Brilliant Year for Me filled with A lot of Opportunity and Lots of Twists and Turns along The Way. So Many Good Things Happened! and, Yes, We had a few Low Points too, but What is a Year without things both Good and Bad. This Year, I will say was a Different Year than usual because I made Goals for The Year and Most of them, I have done, some I haven’t. So, Refresher here, What were My Goals? My 2016 Goals were 

• So, Other than wanting a Great Presidential Election and The Olympics in Rio De Janeiro to go well
• Finally My Future Soulmate (hmm.. Maybe Next Year. Yes, For Certain, It will be Next Year)
• Travel More (Mission Accomplished, in Abundance!)
• Meet More PTLS Family Members that I have not before (Mission Accomplished! Next Year’s Goal?)
• Newsletter Goals: Continue to Write Newsletters (Yep! and, I got 500 Newsletters This Year!)
• Personal Goals: Become a bit more Independent (Working on that!); Get Rid of The Hair on My Face (that one might come True very soon); and, The Most Personal Goal, Meet Lynee’s Sister (That, I have to say, was The Highlight and Best Part of My Goals of 2016; that one happened Faster than I thought it would and I met Lynee’s Mom as well. But, You have to wait until The Year-In-Review to hear about that!)
• Family Goals: Mom meets Her Future Husband (Nope, but I am praying for Next Year) and My Brother meeting Someone who would encourage Him (Thank You Dear God!, Mission Accomplished!)

So, When I look back on This Year, I remember different events both Personally and in the News and I am shocked like “That happened THIS Year?!” and Now, This Year of Memories in both ways are Over. But, before 2017 comes and We watch The Ball drop, Let’s Re-Live 2016 via What I call “Christian’s Year-In-Review 2016”, My Self-Produced Year-In-Review. So, Without further a due, Let’s get started! 

So, like all Years, We begin in January. 

So, Not Long after the New Year started, Lynee’s Sister, Jona contacted My Mom and said that She was ready to Meet Me. Honestly, I was Shocked and I did not think that We would meet her so soon but, on January 23rd, We met her. (Refer to “The Completion of An Untold Story” Newsletter) Meeting Jona, as small as it may seem, was actually a Brilliant Way to Begin The Year and A Highlight of My Year. At The Same Time, Winter Storm Jonas, which was a HUGE Winter Storm hitting Philadelphia and Washington DC happened The Weekend that We met Jona. A Funny Story about that, was that My Friend, Deb’s Mom, whom I refer to as Ma or Deb’s Ma was named Joan. Ma wants The Best for Me. Between Deb and Her Mom, They believed in Destiny. So, The Winter Storm was called Jonas (like The Jonas Brothers), Ma’s Name was Joan, and We were meeting Jona at The Same Time. Destiny? You betcha! Winter Storm Jonas was The Only Major Winter Storm that I totally nerded out on. It dropped 2 Feet of Snow in Washington DC; Richmond, VA; and, Yes, even in West Virginia. In Weather News, I’m not sure if it has happened before or not, but on January 16th, The Actual Temperature and Wind Chills was -30 (Negative 30) in Minnesota. So, In The News, In Mid-January, The Deal known as “The Iran Deal” was finished. Folks, I am giving you Warning, It was a Political Year and I am going to try hard to Not to Mention that many Political Stories, but When I do, If It upsets you, Please move on to The Next Story that I mention. That would really be Great! Just giving you for-warning here, Folks!  

In February, It was a Low Point in Our Family because on Valentine’s Day, Our Aunt Ginny passed away and a couple weeks after, We flew up to Medford, Oregon for The Memorial. In Personal News, I got a little boost of Independence because My Mom had to go to Houston for Business and I decided to stay Home. I wasn’t really missing much, My Neighbors would be around if I needed them, and It would have been Boring anyway. So, part of that Independence Goal I mentioned was partly Accomplished and It was an Interesting Experiment to say the least. In The News, on February 7th, It was Super Bowl 50, which was quite a Milestone and Denver Broncos Won! 

In March, It was PTLS Awareness Month and Boy did We make it Big! A Friend of a PTLS Family Member had a Billboard for PTLS, It was Awesome. As Promised, I mentioned that I met Lynee’s Mom, Dona (Refer to “The Untold Story Completed: Meeting The Parents” Newsletter). We were in Oregon at the time that She friended me and She friended me a Year to The Day that I had first became Facebook Friends with Jona. She was Ready and Wanted to Meet very Soon! I was honestly Shocked that She wanted to meet so soon, I thought it would have been longer, but, Hey that is Okay. Again, In all Honesty, It was a Highlight to My Year of 2016. If I had to remember 2016 in a Certain Way, it would be that. Well, that and Other Things coming up as well! In The News, on March 20th, US President Obama was The First US President to visit Cuba for The First Time since The 1950s. Also in The News, There was Terrorist Attack in Belgium on March 26th. 

In April, It was a more Quiet Month. However, We did have the First PTLS 5K on April 23rd. In The News, It was Sadly Reported that Music Legend, Prince passed away on April 21st. In May, In Late May, We went on Short PTLS Business Trip to Atlanta which was actually a Surprise to both of us. My Mom really helped a PTLS Member with Their IEP. I like to say that She saved them! Also in May, Was What I referred to as “Destiny lead Weirdness”, Refer to The Newsletter about that. Destiny, I have learned, is not always clear! In The News, On May 2nd, There was a Fire at a Historic Church in New York City. As well as US President Obama visited Vietnam for The First Time and Japan as well. 

In June, On June 15h, I had written My 500th Newsletter! Another Highlight of My Year of 2016. In The News, Political Story Alert! On June 23rd, The United Kingdom voted to exit The European Union. In This Month, There were Two Terrorist Attacks, in Orlando and Istanbul. It should be Noted as well that Boxing Legend, Mohammed Ali passed away in Early June. 

In July, We got to try a New BBQ Place here called “Hard Eight BBQ” when My Uncle Craig came to Town for a Visit. It was really Good! Probably, The Best that I have had in Dallas. In The News, something that Us Dallasites will not forget, There was a Shooting at a Protest in Downtown Dallas on July 8th. To Put it Shortly, In Face of Tragedy, the People of Dallas really showed The Rest of Country that Love is The Thing that matters The Most. I was Very Proud of My City! Other than That,  There was a Terrorist Attack in Nice, France. 

In August, Being that It was My 29th Birthday, I had a Very Pleasant Surprise Birthday Dinner with My Neighbors on August 5th. For My Actual Birthday, We took a Drive up to Colorado to see My Brother, Michael. That was a Really Fun Trip! Another Highlight of My 2016 Year! Refer to “My 29th Birthday and Surprises” Newsletter. In The News, It was finally time for Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. US Olympian, Michael Phelps (It was his Last Olympics) won His 20th Olympic Gold Medal. The Highlight of His 2016, I bet! 

In September, It was a Rather Busy Month! Between bringing Michael’s Dog, Paco back home temporarily to Driving to Waco to meet a PTLS Family Member, refer to that Newsletter. Another Highlight of My Year of 2016 was when I finally got to meet My Friend, Deb (now referred to as “The Famous Deb”, refer to The Newsletter about that!) That was an Awesome part of My Year, Up there with Meeting Lynee’s Mom and Sister. In Late September, We got an Invite to go to Spain, more on that later in The Review! In The News, Sad News of Golf Legend, Arnold Palmer passed away on September 25th. 

In October, We got to meet My Grandma Honey’s Boss, Jan Winters for The First Time on October 28th. My Brother and His Girlfriend, Nicole went to Spain for a 2 Week Trip in Mid-October. Nicole had spent time over in Spain, teaching kids English for a Year. A Year or so before She met Michael. in The News, The Chicago Cubs go into The World Series for The First Time in 50 Years on October 24th. In Weather News, Hurricane Matthew hits the Caribbean and Florida. It got so bad that They closed Disney World so People would evacuate. That has only happened twice, I believe. 

In November, A bit of Sad News within The PTLS Family, An Awesome and Brilliant Relative of a PTLS Family Member named Faith Thompson passed away on November 20th. To say the least, She was for lack of a Better Word, of Utter Brilliance! She was up there with The Brilliance of My Mom. She probably deserves a Newsletter about Her! I will likely wait until The New Year after The Holidays are over. All Honor to You, Faith! In a more Upbeat Story, over Thanksgiving Weekend, We did a Business Trip to Spain that I dubbed “PTLS En España”. (Refer to “PTLS En España” Newsletter). That Trip was The First Time that I spoke in front of PTLS Family Members publicly! In The News, The Chicago Cubs broke their Curse (Similar to “The Curse of The Bambino”) and won The World Series for The First Time in a Long Time! Not really a HUGE Fan of Baseball, but I was Very Happy when They won. Political Story Alert! And, It’s a Biggie! So, Let me say this first. Let Me Make it VERY Clear that Us here at The Christianville Spirit and In Integrity of This Newsletter, **The Christianville Spirit is and Forever will be Non-Politically Aligned with any Candidate or Leader.** I know that I said I would not mention who The US Election because The Oh-So-Sensitive Situation but, For Historical Reasons, Billionaire Donald Trump won. Whew! That was The Most Challenging Part of This Newsletter. Trying to be funny here, In Movies depicting The Future, They always said that a Celebrity would run The Country, so Why Not? 

and Finally, We wrap up The Year with December, This Month went by rather Fast! My Brother, Michael was in Colorado. So, He could not come Home for Christmas, but We did FaceTime with Him and Open Gifts. I would not do it again, but I have to admit that It was Pretty Cool to Open Gifts on FaceTime. In The News, Musician George Michael and Actor Allan Thicke passed away This Month. I am Sorry to say but, We lost a lot of Legends in 2016. All in all here, 2016 was a Great Year for Me and I hope You had a Good Year too. And, I can’t wait to see you back here for Another Year of Inspirational, Encouraging, and Thought-Provoking Newsletters in 2017!

(For the Last Time in 2016)

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Love and Life is Ever Changing. Roll with It!

The Christianville Spirit: A Classic or Modern Christmas

The Christianville Spirit

 The Spirit that Encourages

  December 20, 2016-TCS # 525

Well, My Readers! It is that Time of Year again and My Favorite Time of The Year, Christmas. and, What a Year it has been. Wait, Maybe I should say that in My Year-In-Review! Well, I mean it, in Both Ways. Christmas, Some People say is a Time to Reflect on The Year that You just lived out. For Me, It has been a Brilliant Year full of Magic and Hope! But, We will discuss that Next Week. So, What should I write about in My Christmas Newsletter? I have written about Some Newsletter Goldie Stuff over The Years, so Let’s go into Christmas Past shall we? Refer to These Newsletters if You have not Read Them, I have written some Pretty Good Ones! Enjoy!

• The Ideal Christmas (December 2015)
• Where is The North Pole? (December 2015)
• What does Christmas mean to You (December 2014)
• Why I Love December (December 2012)
• A Christmas Miracle (December 2012)
• The Spirit of Christmas (December 2011)
• The Meaning of Christmas and Why We Have It (December 2010)

So, with all that in Mind, What do I write about This Year, Christmas Present! Well, I will tell you how Proud of My Brother I am. That is Not Christmasy, You would say! Oh Believe Me, It is! So, My Brother, Michael, The Last Couple Years, He hasn’t been as much into Christmas as I am. He would not be The One to listen to Christmas Music  or Put up Decorations until a Week before. He used His Odd Artistic Humor to celebrate Christmas in His Own Way. This is more of a Young Adult Aged Michael, not Young Michael. Young Michael was Very Much into Christmas. As We know, or at least We thought We knew, He was having a Rebel Period that sometimes Young Adults have. But, He taught ME something This Year. I Laugh at that Thought because Normally It is I who teaches Him something and If It is about Christmas, I am the one who teaches him! Well, This Year it was The Other Way around! You See, My Brother has a Sweet Girlfriend named Nicole, whose Family really did not get into Christmas and So, She figured that We are going to Bring Christmas here to Colorado, even with Cameron with His Hurt Body after His accident (Refer to The Newsletter, I wrote Two Weeks ago about that!). Perhaps, I wonder about Nicole’s Theory as well in This Lesson. You See, When it comes to Christmas, I am realizing that There are not just ways that You Celebrate Christmas, but rather Styles of Celebrating Christmas. It comes to thought, that You don’t or shouldn’t just CELEBRATE Christmas, but You do it in Your Own Style. So, Michael, I am learning is more an Old-Timey kind of Christmas guy. What does THAT Mean? I think to Myself as I told My Friend, Deb about it. It means a lot of Different Things, It is the Style of How You Celebrate Christmas. I would think, that There are Two Styles of Christmas, The Modern and The Classic. My Brother’s Style is more on The Classical Christmas side. Again, I wonder, What does that Mean? Well, I am more of a Go-With-The-Flow Christmas guy, I would see Myself in both Modern and Classical Christmas. So, Let’s start with Modern Christmas People and I mean, absolutely No Offense by Any of This! Modern Christmas people like The Latest Christmas Songs, as in Those made within a Year of The Present Christmas and dating back at least until Mid-2000’s. They like The Theory behind The Elf on The Shelf. I personally do not get that, but that is just Me. They believe in Shopping and Decorating before Christmas except for Grandma Honey because She likes to be Prepared. Although, Some Modern Christmasers like to Shop at The Last Minute because They are Busy with Parties and Such, or They just forget, Not Judging here! They like The Fake Christmas Trees (This I am guilty of, because It is easier to pull it out and get it set up and Decorated). While We are in Decorating, Some People do their decorations in Extreme Sizes, which Don’t Get Me Wrong, I Love it, but too Extreme is well...Too Extreme! By Extreme, I mean Thousand on Thousands of Christmas Lights, and Music Syndicated Lights. So, then We have The Classical Christmasers, What do They like? Well, Believe it or not, Nicole had Michael listening to Classic Christmas Music, not The Modern Stuff. That, I am Okay with. Again, It is Your Style of Celebrating. I am just shocked and proud that My Brother was listening to Christmas Music at all in The First Week of December. Classic Christmasers, like The Old Fashioned Way of getting a Christmas Tree. Meaning that, You drive out of The City, go to a Christmas Tree Farm and Cut down a Christmas Tree yourself. Honestly, I see that in Movies and It looks Romantic! And, Yes, My Brother, Michael did that with Nicole and He cut it down on His Own! He picked out a Medium Height, European-Style Christmas Tree. Actually, If I had to pick one Myself, I would go with that because I would rather not deal with The Needles on The Christmas Tree. Now, What is Funny is that, We (My Mom, Michael, and I) did that in One Way when We were Kids, only We went to The Store and got a Fresh Christmas Tree. When It comes to Gift Giving, Classic Christmasers think beyond that Question “What do You want for Christmas?”, I would think that seems like a Birthday Question, more than a Christmas Question. But, They believe in not just Buying something and Wrapping it, although They will if They have to, but Really it is Thought that Counts. They see Something that You truly want for Christmas and They get it for You, but Most of The Time, They will make it for You or In Some Way, be a Very Heartfelt Gift. Now, Yeah, I know, I wrote at one Time that Christmas is not about Gifts (and, It isn’t), but for The Classic Christmasers, Keep that Tradition alive! and, Of Course, The Most Romantic of the Classic Christmasers, They would enjoy sitting by a Fireplace, Sip on some Hot Chocolate, and just enjoy The Time together. Honestly, that is The Vision that Christmas should be. If You want to give a Gift, that is Fine, but do in a Classic Christmas Way and then, The Rest of The Joyous Christmas and Holiday Season, Enjoy the Time with Your Friends or Family, or both.

All in All, My Readers, I hope You have a Very Merry-Blessed Christmas, If You do not Celebrate Christmas, I hope You have a Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza, and a Blessed Yule.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah (or Chanukah), Happy Kwanza, and Blessed Yule from The Christianville Spirit! 

The Christianville Spirit: What I Taught in Spain

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Encourages

December 14, 2016-TCS # 524

Hola, My Readers! So, A year ago, after I went to Stockholm and London, I wrote a Newsletter first about The Trip and then, The “PTLS Business Trip” Side of The Trip, yet I have not with My Trip to Spain. Our Trip to Spain, I feel that This Trip was more Business versus Pleasure in Spain. Now, did I have fun in Spain? Absolutely! So, Considering I wrote a Newsletter that I keep thinking is like one newsletter About The Trip and One of “What I Learned on The Trip”. Most of The Stuff in Spain that I learned was about PTLS Family Members there as well as Things that I told you already in Last Week’s Newsletter. So, What Else did I learn in Spain? How about We reverse The Question, What did I teach in Spain? The Reason I am reversing that is because For The First Time, in My PTLS Life, I spoke to a Bunch of PTLS Members in a Group instead of Just a One or Two People at a Time. I spoke for an Hour, which was Translated and I spoke a Little Spanish to Impress them. and, what followed was a Question and Answer Period. There were Many Questions that I answered or at least, I tried but, The Most Interesting and Most Challenging Questions came when a Young Adult PTLSer who asked me a Deep Question. You See, I talked about How PTLSers see The Good in People, which is a Gift to have, but at The Same Time, I mentioned that It can get You into Trouble. Along with Other Things like Acting Half Our Age, We tend to like to Hang out with those either Older than Our Age or Younger than Our Age. Anyway, She was a little Anxious about Asking The Question (It is a PTLS Thing, I tell ya!) but, She asked me Is It Easier to Make Friends Online or In Person? Because after all, It is not Easy making Friends with those that are Our Own Age. Blame it on the Awkward meeting and being like (Head goes upwards): Sup’ or What’s Up? and usually, You would just say “Not Much”. So, Anyway, She asked me that Question, and I was like “Woah! Good Question!, I have NO Idea how to Answer It!” So, IS It Easier making Friends Online or In Person (Offline or IRL In Real Life), The Short answer is both. That is all You could say without it being Complicated. The Thing is, Making Friends Online is Easy for Us PTLSers because If it gets awkward in Conversation, which can Tough for us, We can just stop talking and so will They until You can come up with Something to talk about other “What’s Up, How are You?, How was Your Day?, and How was XYZ Part of Your Life?” Small Talk as us Americans refer to as. However, Because We see the Good in People, We trust whoever We want to talk to Online and We trust that They are Real or Are Who They say They are. You can be Anyone on The Internet, haven’t You heard? So, If We trust Everyone and See The Good in Everyone, and Yes, We know if Someone is Good or Bad by Our Intuition, but that is hard to Sense talking to Someone on The Internet. If I had it My Way, In My Personal Life, I would MUCH rather meet My Future Soulmate, Bridgett online because then, I can talk to Her online (without as much Anxiety as Real Life) and Talk to Her online until I got Comfortable meeting Her in Person. That is Why, as Exciting as Internet Dating goes which I have considered in Finding Her, I could not do that because I would Trust too Much and of Course, The Lack of Filter too, would break those Rules that say You should not give your Information away. There are Times that I worry about My PTLS Brothers and Sisters because, The Thing is We all want Friends (and, Love) but, It is Hard to make Friends. Don’t get me wrong, I have made Great Friends online, PTLS Family Members, Young Adult PTLSers, Lynee’s Mom and Sister, and Yes, even My Friend “The Famous Deb” (Refer to that Newsletter), I Met Online.

However, I know that The Internet is Easily accessible but, It can be Very Dangerous. 

Now, Making Friends in Person means, in a Way, You have to go out to make them. It can be Safer but, Harder to do. I don’t mean just Out of Your House, I mean Meeting at Different Places. See, This is where We Young Adult PTLSers differ a bit (ahem...Clearing Throat)..Alot! in People that are Our Own Age. I would prefer to meet a Friend at like a Friend’s Party at Their House, or Maybe doing something I enjoy like Traveling or Maybe Bowling. But, Most Typical People My Age, meet at Bars, Dance Clubs, or Some Kind of Large-Scale Social Event and That just doesn’t really sound Fun to Me. The Conversations are Harder to start because You don’t know WHERE to Start and Therefore needing a Little bit of Help with Starting the Conversation to get past the Small Talk. For Me anyway, Talking to People My Age is hardest to get past The Small Talk. Now, If I join in a Conversation and They are talking Worldly Things, Where They have been, News, Politics, Geography, You get the Idea, then I will jump in and We will make friends like That! Now, Regarding Meeting that Future Soulmate, Bridgett (that is what I am led to believe is Her Name), I picture us meeting in Person and us knowing who the other is, without not knowing what to Say and then, falling into The Small Talk Trap, that would be a Nightmare! We would meet naturally and Hug each other as if We knew each other Our Whole Life. All in all, Making Friends is not Easy, but We need a little help.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Everybody needs Friends. Be that Friend. 

The Christianville Spirit: The Politics of Sleeping Remix

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Encourages

December 7, 2016-TCS # 523

Happy December, My Readers! It is now My Favorite Month of The Year, December! I Love December because of My All-Time Favorite Holiday, Christmas. Anyway, on to This Week’s Newsletter. So, I realized Something on My Trip to Spain last week. I have been on 3 “Red-Eye” Flights in Europe in My Life and I realized that I have trouble sleeping on The Plane there. Yeah, Yeah, Follow this Travel List, like a Special Pillow, Choose The Seat Wisely, Bring Headphones (Noise Canceling is Best), Don’t Drink (I don’t, except for Soda), Be Careful about Carry-ons (It is better to have a SMALL Carry-on under The Seat because it takes up Valuable Space!), Take Sleeping Pill (Be Very Careful about that, Read on it and Test it before hopping on a Plane)... But, Really, does anyone actually follow that Advice? Well, for Me, Sleeping and Traveling don’t Work. I am too Excited to see the New Place and Of Course, all the Noise on The Plane, and Lack of Room in between Seat, among other things. The Trouble with it is a Newsletter that I am going to Rerun. You See, Every Now and Then, PTLS Family Members ask Questions that roll into Themes, I like to Think. One Week, It is a Potty Training, Sleep, Walking & Talking, and More. I believe that This Gold Newsletter that I wrote on May 27th of 2015 (Refer to Newsletter 452), not only answers that Question, but My Own Question to Myself of Why I have a Hard Time Sleeping on a Overnight Flight. So, With Further a due, Here We go! Enjoy!

I have an Interesting Topic that I have to tell you about. Although, Each Time I think about it, It is a Very Odd Topic. You See, Sometimes either in My Half-Asleep Mind or My Mind when I about to go to Sleep comes up with Either Ideas that are Just Plain Genius, like Travel on a Dime Agency (called Dime Travel)? Any Takers to Help Me with This One? As My Uncle Bruce would say, “Ohhhhhhh Yeah!” or Ideas that are Just Plain Weird! How about The Politics of Sleeping? (Hmm... The Politics of Sleeping..) So, that is what I am going to tell you. Now, It seems odd to write about Sleeping when I got up at 2:45 Today, but Hey, It Flows. However, What about those people in Places like Australia that are about to go to Sleep or Elsewhere in The World, well This is for You then! I present to You, The Politics of Sleeping! So, Blame It on The Fact that I watch The News a lot or How I am interested in how Geography, History, and Politics mix together, to come up with this idea. But, that is okay. You know those Moments where A Person has a Certain Sleeping Style, One Person will wake up at the First Sound they hear and The Other will keep on Sleeping, You wake them up and be Like “How Can You Sleep like That?!” Trying to Figure Out just how to Sleep like The Other Person. So, How do People Sleep? Well, that is an Interesting Question. So, like Normal Politics, We have the “Heavy Sleeper Party”, “The Middle Sleeper Party” and “Light Sleeper Party”. The Light Sleeper, wakes up at The Sound of Anything, Mowers, Babies Crying, Car Driving By. Meanwhile, The Heavy Sleeper can sleep through The Snoring, The Car Noises, The Road Noise, or White Noise. (I think when I am on a Plane, I revert to the “Light Sleeper Party”) I am probably likely a Middle Sleeper. So, Now the Question becomes, How EXACTLY do People Sleep? Well, This is Where it gets More Broad. There are People who love to have Absolute Silence when They Sleep, Any Noise can and will disturb them. There are The White Noise Sleepers, that would be Me; They need a White Noise, a Little Road Noise, a Fan Running, a Little Music Playing (like a Lullaby or The Type of Music they use to Massage, gentle music along with The Sounds of Ocean Waves), Ocean Waves (That’s Why People love going to The Beach; My Grandma Honey would prefer to Sleep that way!), White Noise Machine (That would be Me; I like the “Waterfall” Sound, The Best). There are also People who would rather not Sleep alone and It comforts them with Someone that They love with them. There are People who have Machines like a CPAP Machine that helps them breath and preventing Snoring. Speaking of Snoring, There are Two Kinds of People, Those that can handle Snoring and It is sort of like The Other Person’s White Noise and Those of Us that Can not stand it! The Funny Thing is that We don’t realize that We are doing it. It took me to wake up half-asleep, half-awake and I heard Myself snore, Very Weird! Now, The Most Fascinating Part of The Politics of Sleeping are Dreams. Now, I have heard that Dreams are The Sub-Conscious Mind trying to communicate with You. You would probably think, “Now You want to Communicate with Me, like when I can not do anything about It.... Now?!”. It goes without mentioning that People have Good Dreams, like a Passed Loved One coming to Visit, Images of The Future, Getting Married, or What Have You. and Those who have Bad Dreams, otherwise known as “Nightmares” or “Night Terrors”. For The Sake of Those going to Sleep in a While, I won’t mention Images. Now, I should tell you that Whatever You are thinking about in The Last 5 Minutes before You go to Sleep is Most Likely What You will Dream about. Now, Here comes the Tough Part, Shutting The Brain down to GO to Sleep. For Me, that is Hardest Part both at Home and Traveling. There are Many Different Ways that People do it. Some just Ride It Through (that would be Me), Some get up and do Something Mind-Less, and Finally, There are People who do Meditation or People who use Soothing Music (refer to The “Massage Music” segment I mentioned before). Now, My Advice, and This One I will admit is a bit hard for Me, but Turn Off your Electronics at least an Hour before Bed. Ha! I don’t follow My Own Advice! It actually is My Mom’s Advice, but I digress. So, The Point is that Everyone sleeps in a Different Ways so You better hope that You find Someone (if You are Single like Me) who has The Same “Sleeping Party” as You do. Otherwise, Prepare to be Woken Up MANY Times! As in The Lion King, (Singing Aloud): “Beeeee Preparedddd!” All in all, If You are Reading This before You go to Sleep, Good Night and I hope You have Good Dreams! and I hope that I did not make any of You that are Awake, Sleepy.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Sweet Dreams to All, No Matter How You Sleep.