The Christianville Spirit: PTLS en España Rerun

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

November 29th, 2017-TCS # 572

Happy Holiday Season, My Readers! Yes, My Readers! It is that Time of Year again, My Favorite Time of Year, The Holiday Season! Also, Welcome Back from The Holiday of Thanksgiving. These Past two Thanksgivings for Us, have been less than Traditional. Last Thanksgiving, We went to Spain and Skipped Thanksgiving, although We did have a “Friends-Giving” that was a Good Make-Up Thanksgiving. This Year, due to a lot of Reasons, and because We did not have anyone to Watch The Dogs, We decided to stay Home for Thanksgiving, Just My Mom and I. It was a Quiet Thanksgiving, Less-Than-Ideal, but We did have some fun with it though. We bent some of The Traditions, because Who says that We have to follow Every Tradition, that is Except for Christmas, Christmas must stay The Traditions of Christmas! Thanksgiving, You can bend a little. We had a Create-Your-Own Thanksgiving (or CYO Thanksgiving) in which, Yes I got to have the Meal with a few tweaks and A Ton of Stuffing, which is My Favorite Part of Thanksgiving. This is certainly different than Last Year with Going to Spain for Thanksgiving and Honestly, I would not mind doing it again because Going to Europe during The Holidays is Very Fascinating! If You have ever wondered about it, like I know that You are. I am going to Rerun The Newsletter that Explains It. Plus My Humbleness gets to have a little bragging rights in This Newsletter. Folks, I am a Humble Man, but, It is Okay to brag every once and a while! Enjoy and Happy Holiday Season!

This Newsletter was Written on November 30th of 2016 (Refer to Newsletter 522)

Hola, My Readers! Welcome Back from a Lovely Holiday! I hope You enjoyed your Thanksgiving. So, Boy do I have an Interesting Story with quite a Twist to Tell You. So, What did I do for Thanksgiving? Oh Just...You Know, hang out with Family...Well, Yes and No. I actually went to Spain for Thanksgiving. Woah! Hold The Phone! You went to Spain for Thanksgiving?! Yes, I know, Crazy, right?! Yeah, You normally don’t hear that in Most People’s Thanksgiving Plans. The Only Reason You would hear that is if Someone had No One to spend The Holiday with, so Why not travel somewhere and Skip Thanksgiving. Well, I will assure you that it wasn’t Us. You See, a Month ago, A Couple PTLS Members wanted us to come to Spain and meet and talk with a Few PTLS Members, Keyword here, a FEW PTLS Members. It was to be a PTLS Hang-Out if You will. They had already picked The Date and It happened to be over Thanksgiving. So, Thanksgiving Week it was! Over the Next Month, The Amount of PTLS Members coming grew from a Couple of PTLS Members to 20 PTLS Members! Now, for those of You wondering, We did have a Thanksgiving, We will call it a “Make-Up Thanksgiving” because One of My Mom’s Friends was having a “Friends-Giving” at their House and so that was Our Thanksgiving. Now, This Second Trip to Europe, was a much shorter and More PTLS Business Trip than A Mix of both Business and Pleasure like Stockholm and London was. We flew on Thanksgiving Morning to Madrid, Spain. I will say that it is quite busy at The Airport on Thanksgiving Morning, but I think most of it was for Those flying home within The United States. This was The First Time that I ever flew on Thanksgiving Day as well as The First Time that We flew on an International Airline where They spoke two Languages in their Announcements, both English and Spanish. We arrived in Madrid, Spain on Friday Morning, as The Sun was starting, It was really pretty to arrive as The Sun was Rising. One of The Organizers of This Meeting, Ana, was Nice enough to pick us up from The Airport and took us to Our Hotel that Early in The Morning. She gave us a Nice Introduction to Spain and Preparing us to meet PTLS Family Members in Spain. None of Them except for Her and Another PTLS Member, Erik another Organizer for This, spoke English. Most of them speak only Spanish and maybe a Little (keyword again, little) English so, It would be a bit of a Challenge but, as Barney of How I Met Your Mother would say “Challenge Accepted!”. So, We arrived at Our Hotel, and let This Business Trip get going! First Thing on The List is an Interview with The Nursing Board of Spain, little did My Mom and I know that Said Interview was to Take Place on Camera. Due to Arriving early in The Morning, Our Room was not ready yet So, We did The Interview, on Camera and with Pictures as well while We waited. After all that was Finished, We were not going to be picked up until later that Evening to go to Dinner in The City Center. After a Nice Nap and a Really Nice Rain Shower in Our Hotel Room, Organizer Erik picked us up and Showed us around on Our Way to Dinner. We drove past several places including The Prado Museum; a Local Department Store called “El Corte Ingles” on Black Friday (which is a New Idea for Those in Spain); An Arched Monument in a Traffic Circle called “Puerta De Alcala”; and, A Traffic Circle with Spanish Flags around it, called “Plaza De Cibelas” near Banco de España; and, Finally, Walking by a Christmas Market in “Plaza Mayor”. We also got to see Some Pretty Cool Christmas Light Displays along the Drive to Dinner. We made a Slight Detour to meet Erik’s PTLS Child because He was not coming to The Event the next day. By The Way, The Way that The Spanish pronounce “Plaza Mayor”, To me, It sounded like “Playa Mayor’d”. We all had a Nice Dinner with a Few PTLS Members at a Restaurant in Madrid’s Old Town. Thank God that We had Erik and Ana to help Translate! My Mom really pulled from Her High School Years of Her Spanish, She can understand more than She can Speak. We tried Several Different Foods including Garlic Soup (It was really good) and Broken Eggs with French Fries (I am told that It is a Spanish Delicacy). I should mention that The Spanish tend to Eat Late, like around 8 or 9 O‘ Clock at Night and then, They party all Night in the Summer because They don’t have Air Conditioning and It gets Very Hot, so They stay out all Night. However, It was Freezing while We were there so We did not stay out late. They also do things Late, Lunch is Late (like 2 or 3 In The Afternoon) and Dinner is Late. Of Course, Organization in Spain may not be Top Priority either, but apparently That is How They like it there. Anyway, so Saturday was sort of like a Mini-Conference, like We did in Stockholm. My Mom spoke most of The Time all the way until After Lunch. By The Way, The Lunch that We had was really good too. Luckily though, We had a Friend of Michael’s Girlfriend, Nicole, named Marta came and She helped us Translate as well as Translators for The Speeches. Boy, Did We need those Translators! What was funny to me (But, It was Respectful) was that Some of the PTLS Members came up to Us and started speaking Spanish and Spoke to us as if We knew what They were saying. It took a lot of Listening to hear Words that You knew in Spanish and then, Get a General Idea of what They were saying. To Be Fair, I am sure that They were listening for Key Words that They knew in English.

After Lunch, I was up to Speak. Yes, I was Up to Speak! Now, This was The Organizer’s Idea for Me to do this. I did Very Brilliantly and I made My Own Powerpoint to Present and I spoke a Bit of Spanish to Impress them a little bit. For Dinner, We went to This Place called “Kilometros De Pizza” (Translating into Kilometers of Pizza) and They had Pizza that was VERY Long for a Group of People! First came Two Appetizers, One which was Real Mozzarella Cheese and Pita Bread. Then, Came the Main Dish, a Board of Pizza that was Literally a Meter Long and It had 4 different Kinds of Pizza (Cheese, Margarita, Ham and Cheese, and Barbecue) that was a 5 Person Length. It was Huge! The Next Day, Sunday was sort of like a Business Meeting. It was Interesting to say the least! After that, Ana took us on a Final Tour on The City and See The Places that was on Our List to See. So, We stopped for Lunch before Our Tour because I had to make sure that I had Paella while I was there. After We walked another PTLS Member to The Train Station (which was quite Extensive!), It was on to The Tour. Due to The Fact, that It was Raining most of The Time that We were There, We could not really explore too much but, We saw The Major Places, The Spanish Palace; “Gran Via”, The Spanish Version of Broadway; The Tourist Avenue; and, Finally, “Puerta Del Sol” which was a Highlight for Me to see! I realized Later that “Plaza Mayor” is More Significant than “Puerta Del Sol”, but to be Fair, “Puerta Del Sol” is the Exact Heart of Spain and Heart of Madrid. After that, That was The End of The Tour and It was Time to head back to The Hotel. The Final Day, Monday, It was Time to head Home. All in all, It was an Awesome Trip and I wish I had more Time in Spain to see it, but Maybe Next Year! A Huge Thank You (Muchos Gracias!) to Our Translators; Organizers (Erik and Ana); Our Cheering Squad, Pili and Laura; a Special Thanks to My Little PTLS Brother, Carlos for His Smile and Kit-Kat, and Finally, the People of Spain for showing Your Lovely and Historic Country.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Spending Thanksgiving can mean Spending It with Family Anywhere.

The Christianville Spirit: Happy Thanksgiving!

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

November 22nd, 2017-TCS # 571

Hello My Wonderful Readers and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that You had a Great Year to This Point! I know that I have had a Great Year so Far. I am thankful for Many Things and Many Things extra! The Roof over My Head, Food on The Table, and All the Basic Things that We have that We don’t realize that We should be Grateful for. Additionally, I am Thankful (Truly Thankful) for all of The Meet-ups that I had This Year, 9 almost 10 Times in a Year with Lynee’s Mom, Dona. It really helps both of us with both Closure and Showing Lynee (as well as Lynee showing us) that We truly Loved her! That and Dona is just good company! We, between My Mom and I have become really good friends with Her, and She is a Good Friend to have. Someone to Laugh with, Cry with, and Yes, have Some Really Good (Deep at times) Conversations. Now, that I think about it. I am thankful for that more than Anything This Year. On Top of That, I am Thankful for The Cruise that I went on Earlier This Year and The PTLS Family that took me. Of Course, I am Very Thankful to My Neighbors! Who would have thought that after All This Time living in The Neighborhood that I do, that I would have Great-Awesome-Brilliant Neighbors, even in My Head, Although I am not European (I am of decent) eerrr...I mean, I don’t LIVE in Europe, but I say it as Neighbours (It sounds the same when said but, to Me, it should sound like Nay-Boors instead of Nay-Bers.) Anyway, I am going to rerun a Thanksgiving Newsletter that I feel is One of My Best Ones. A Note, before I start, This Newsletter was written in the time of the Ferguson Riots and I mention it very briefly, In case You were wondering what Ferguson was. Anyway, Enjoy The Newsletter and Have a Very Happy Thanksgiving! 

This Newsletter was written on November 26th of 2014(Refer to Newsletter 426)

Happy Thanksgiving, My Readers! Really, I hope that You have an Awesome Thanksgiving No Matter Who You Are. So, I was having a bit of Trouble with figuring out What I should write about This Thanksgiving Eve. I thought of Maybe, What I’m thankful for or Maybe, My Feelings toward all the Unrest in The Country and In Ferguson, Missouri, but I figured that I should not give that Anymore Energy than it already has. So, What I am going to Write about, You Say? Well, Let’s start with a Question. Oh Boy, I am sure You are thinking. What does Thanksgiving mean to You? And, Don’t Worry, if You say, “Shopping”, I promise to not judge you, unless it is for a Greedy Reason, then I do not Support You. So, Back to My Question, What does Thanksgiving mean to You? As a Friend of My Mom’s and Mine, says, “Thanksgiving is the Only Holiday where You can spend time with Your Family, and not have to Worry about Gifts or Presents” Now, when I heard that, It kind of stung but, only because I am a Christmas-Lover and After Halloween is over with, I am ready for Christmas Movies, Music, and So On. But, The Ugly Truth is that This Friend is 100% Right, Thanksgiving is The Only Holiday to Really have Genuine Quality Time with Family without Gifts or Presents. Again, Not to Diss Christmas because I love Christmas and I always will. But, What about Thanksgiving? Well, Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is often overlooked by The Frantic Holiday Shopping known as “Black Friday” which to be honest, seems to be turning into “Black ThanksFriday.” In My Head, It is like driving into a Double-Metro Area like Baltimore-Washington or Even My Own, Dallas-Fort Worth. You enter Fort Worth and find that, No You do not want to go to Fort Worth (and, Fort Worth is a Very Down-to-Earth, Cowboy City) but, You want to go to Dallas. Well, What do You do? Well, skip it of course, take the “Bypass” around it and get to Dallas faster, instead of going through it. So, Thanksgiving, By The Way, to me, Anyway, means Quality Time with Family (If Family is not around, Then Friends and New Friends can do), It means Turkey and Stuffing! (Stuffing is One of My Favorite Parts of Thanksgiving), and Of Course, Watching The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which not only is My Favorite Tradition but, It is the Official Start of The Holiday Season. Now, I know that There are some people who love Football on Thanksgiving. If I ever had a Discussion about it with Someone who is a Passionate Football Fan, They would probably tell me that 1. It keeps the Family entertained if You just can not handle staring at Your Family Member without nothing to talk about or It is just plain awkward. and, 2. It prevents the Family from Fighting (unless, and God Help You, Your Family roots for Different Teams) Believe Me, I am pretty sure that There are those type of Families Out There and The First Type of Family would be just Funny to watch and observe But, as They say in The News, I digress. and, Finally, There are People who sadly either do not have Family to go to, in which it is better for them to hang out with Friends, and If They do not have Either, that is When They need a Friend or Someone to spend Thanksgiving with. So, Thanksgiving is not the Best for them. and, Finally, There are The Shoppers. Now, in my head, There are two types of People that shop on Thanksgiving. Either those that are Alone with No Family or Friends, so Why not spend your heart out on Gifts and What not, It seems Logical and It helps them. BUT, There are also those who just want to Shop, Just because. or, maybe We can use the “Awkward Family” excuse and Maybe it provides more Entertainment when You can not handle being at Home anymore. The Ones that I do not agree with are “Black-Friday Shoppers” because In My Head, There is nothing that You need at 4 in The Morning. Anyway, My Readers, like Christmas, Thanksgiving is What You make of it. But, If Anything, Do Something Good for Thanksgiving, Help an Elderly Lady if You are Shopping, Shout Loud if You are a Football Fan and Make Sure that “Awkward Family” of Yours does it too (It is More Fun that Way), and Finally Enjoy The Quality Time with The Family because You never know what may happen. Sure, They may be Awkward, a Bit Messed Up, and They are just Funny (and, Fun) to be around, like My Family. But, Enjoy It and Lastly, (all in all) I hope You have a Great Thanksgiving with Lots of Love and Happiness!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Give Thanks and Cherish What You have, This Thanksgiving. Also, it goes without saying, Happy Thanksgiving!

The Christianville Spirit: The Mind of Autism

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

November 15th, 2017-TCS # 570

Oi and Olá, My Readers! Those Words look alike don’t they?! Well, They are Two Greetings that are roughly the Same. Oi means Hi and Olá means Hello in Portuguese. So, You learn something new Every Day. I believe this greeting is used in both Portugal and Brazil. So, on with This Week’s Newsletter! So, as You may recall I have talked about a Brilliant Show on TV here in The United States called The Good Doctor. This Show actually does Live up to The Hype and It makes you realize a lot of Different Aspects relating to Autism. (Refer to My First Newsletter about The Good Doctor). I feel that This Show, not only explains about Those with Autism (and, Special Needs in General) but, also The Medical World. It mixes My Mom’s Medical Nerding-out and My Passion about People learning about those with Special Needs. It is funny because I have found myself asking more questions about What Medical Word that They just said than I do when We watch Grey’s Anatomy. Where Grey’s Anatomy speaks the Medical Term very fast, The Good Doctor say The Word very slow. But, that aside, This Show is Very Interesting because of how Dr. Shaun Murphy analyzes what is wrong with The Patient before The Doctors know. As well as that, He has shown us about How The Autistic Mind works. For Example, He showed us The Struggle of whether Someone is Joking, Being Sarcastic, or Being Literal about Something, Something that I, myself have a hard time telling the difference. He had a Moment where There were a bunch of Patients from a Crash that needed Help and He was Overstimulated by All of The Activity, and Best of all, He did explain Perfectly about Stimming. You See, In This Week’s Episode (Warning: Spoiler Alert!) The Writers came up with an Excellent Test into How a Person who plays Someone with Autism would handle Another Person with Autism in Distress. So, in comes a Person with Autism with Something wrong with his Intestines because His Parents are feeding him the wrong food. Anyway, He is freaking out because The Doctors are trying to figure out what is wrong with him, but He does not like to be touched (A Common Thing with those with Autism) and They pretty much have to hold him down because He is freaking out. Dr. Shaun tells them to stop because He realizes that The Patient also has Autism. Later on, Shaun explains that He has Autism. Which brings me to The Stimming part. The Patient has to go in an MRI, which to Anyone can be Scary, but Dr. Shaun walks into an empty hospital room to Pace back and forth (aka Stimming) to try and figure out how to keep The Patient with Autism calm during The Procedure. Dr. Shaun explained Stimming to His Mentor saying that “It helps him concentrate as well as Relive Stress”. Now, There are Times when We PTLSers Stim because We are either Bored, Stressed, or Over Stimulated. In Dr. Shaun’s Case it was because of Stress. So, When It came Time for The Patient’s MRI, Dr. Shaun help him stim about Numbers and Counting Things to help The Patient decrease their Anxiety, it only helped for a Little Bit.

Afterwords, Dr. Shaun showed The Parents of The Patient that His Stimming was Okay as well helping making Decisions about Things like if He wanted The Lights on (The Parents seem to think that The Lights being On, increased His Anxiety) or not, or to have Dr. Shaun do The Surgery or not. It is Funny because The Doctors on The Show are also starting to let Dr. Shaun make Decisions too and They are Trusting Him to know what He is doing. Now, They are asking him what He sees! All in all, Not that I like The Distress that sometimes happens in Medical Dramas, but This Show, I really like it because I can relate to it in Many Ways like How his mind works and My Mom learns more about How The Autistic Mind works.

 It is a Good Show to watch!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Step in Our Shoes and Understand How Our Mind Works. You will see how simple our mind is.

The Christianville Spirit: Remembering Meeting a Family

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

November 8th, 2017-TCS # 569

Howdy, My Readers! Yes, that is how We Texans say Hello. Okay, It is more like in the Country that They would say “Howdy Y’all”. So, Sticking with This Year’s Newsletter Theme, The Spirit that Makes You Wonder. This is something that makes Me Wonder. Often Times, I go back in My Head to all the Big Events in My Life that I thought at The Time would Never Happen. I am sure there are PTLS Family Members that think the same thing, or at least, temporarily anyway. Like for Example, I never thought that I could go to 6 Countries for, because, or with PTLS (2 of Them I did on Vacation). I went to Stockholm, Sweden (A Dream Come True); London, United Kingdom;  Madrid, Spain, all for PTLS Conferences on The Road, and Of Course, I went to Roatan, Honduras, Belize, and Mexico (but, I have been to Mexico before PTLS) on a Cruise, without My Mom but, with a PTLS Family Member. That is Something I still to This Day, can’t believe that I did. Because there was A Time I thought I couldn’t go on a Trip without My Mom. As Long as It is with The Right People, I can! But, Sometimes, I go farther back than Recent Memories. Believe It or not, There was a Time before We started having PTLS Gatherings and Yes, Even PTLS Conferences! and, To go even farther back than that, There was a Time when PTLS, Potocki-Lupski Syndrome was not named. Honestly, It shocks me, wonders me, and Heartens Me of All of The Things that I have done since Potocki-Lupski Syndrome was named. But, I go back often to a Moment in between The First Conference and The PTLS Naming. For The Record, We had met Many Families before The Naming of PTLS. In My Head, Who was The First PTLS Family Member We met after The Naming of PTLS? One Family that is The First that I have mentioned meeting was The PTLS Family Member, The Pulley’s from Atlanta. I actually wrote a Newsletter about it and Then, I will continue The Story. This Newsletter was written on December 3rd of 2007; Refer to Newsletter 82 (Unnumbered).

This Past Thanksgiving My Mom and I drove to Atlanta to visit some of The Smith Family. And, it was a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time with family which was good. My Brother, Michael didn’t come because he had to work. There were many cool parts but, one of them was something My Uncle Bruce has and did. Over the past several months he has been working hard at getting his Pilot’s License and a month or two ago he got it. So, one day he took My Cousin Gram and me up in his little Cessna Plane that the Flight School provided. So, we flew over a mountain that was called Stone Mountain and over Lake Lanier to see how dry it was. And, it was pretty dry, In fact I saw a whole boat ramp dried up and I’ve never seen a lake so dry that a whole boat ramp wasn’t covered in water. Another thing that was really cool was also was we saw the beautiful fall foliage. I got to wake up to it every morning in my Grandma Honey’s House; there were many colors like Orange, Red, and Yellow. Before we left, we had a wonderful opportunity to meet The Pulley Family which has a little girl named Ava that has the same special needs as I do and we met them at My Grandma Honey’s House, I was very nice meeting them. We hope to see them again and meet other families as well. All in all, being in Atlanta was a lot of fun.

It was Remembering This Newsletter in My Weekly “What do I write about This Week Question”, that along with The 10 Year Anniversary of The Naming of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome, I realized that This Thanksgiving is The 10th Year Anniversary of When We Met The Pulleys. At That Time, They had recently been diagnosed and They lived in Atlanta where The Smith Family lives also. So, We figured that Since We were going to be in Atlanta for Thanksgiving that Year, We figured that We would met them while We were at Grandma Honey’s House. As My Mom recollects, Ava was 2 Years Old at The Time. At The Same Time, We had My Uncle Bruce with us at Grandma Honey’s House. It’s a Party! Grandma Honey would say. Ava, She just loved Uncle Bruce! At a PTLS Gathering/My Birthday Party in 2009, Ava was Excited to see Uncle Bruce. They gave us a Basket of Goodies as a Thank You for meeting with Them, which believe it or not, We actually still use. The Most Hilarious Moment for Us was when Ava wanted a Rice Crispy Treat and I got one Myself. We did not realize until later, but Ava was allergic to The Eggs in it, She was fine but, just had a Little Red on her cheeks. At The Time, anyway, Ava couldn’t talk yet but only Babble. Today, Ava can Talk quite Clearly and is in a lot of Activities. Something that, like Myself, Ava’s Mom at The Time, thought that She would never do and Years Later, She did. I think that although We have a little bit of Self-Doubt in Us, It is natural and human to do so. I feel that PTLS Family Members focus on The Fact that Their Child has PTLS and It is Stops There. Ava’s Mom on the other hand, Yes, She stopped for a Short Time like We all do, but She left the Station and kept on Going. Ava is Very Successful at where She is now versus Where She was then. Where We are going is Always a Wonder and a Worry, but Where We have gone before, That is What is Amazing!  I look back on Ava when She was little and She reminded me a lot of What I was like when She was little. But, I knew what She was going to do when She got older and Ava’s Mom (who I call, Aunt Joey) did not give up, just like My Mom and Many other PTLS Moms. All in all, It is fun to look back on Memories from 10 Years and more.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Never Wonder about us PTLSers because We just Big Bundles of Wonder that brings Joy!

The Christianville Spirit: Ode to Michael-If It weren't for You (You don't even knooow!)- A Christianville Classic

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

November 1st, 2017-TCS # 568

Happy November, My Readers! Yes, Folks! That is Right, Halloween, My least Favorite Holiday is over and It’s Time for Christma...Hold on a Minute! I am happy that Halloween is over too, but What about Thanksgiving? Like I mentioned in a Newsletter about I feel like Thanksgiving is skipped (Refer to Newsletter 475 or November 2013). Okay, Who says We have to be Politically Correct anyway?! If It Joys You, Happy Christmassing Away! 

So, on to This Week’s Newsletter. So, November for Our Family This Year starts a Trip of a Lifetime if You will, but Not for Us. It is for My Brother. My Brother’s on a Trip without us?! Guess He forgot to invite us. Okay, so It was Intentional, because I feel it should be his chance to see The World a little bit. Where is He going, You Ask? He is going to Europe. For Two Weeks! Our Aunt on My Dad’s Side gave him an Airline Ticket to use and He figured that Why not go to London, Amsterdam, and Madrid? Like I Said, It will give him a Chance to See The World. He is doing it by Himself which frankly makes me a little nervous but, Everyone who is Young has to do something crazy like that once. Anyway, so Because I wrote about Halloween on The Week of My Brother’s Birthday and My Brother is going to Europe, I am going to put the Following Newsletter into My Christianville Classics List! Now, Although This Newsletter was Written on October 26th of 2016 (Refer to Newsletter 517 or “Christianville Classics List”), It is not Old Enough to be Considered a “Classic” but, I feel it explains The Love I have for My Brother in The Best Way Possible. So, Without Further a due, This is the Now Christianville Classic, “Ode to Michael, If It weren’t for You (You don’t even knoooow!)” Enjoy and Happy Late-Birthday, Michael! Your Awesome!

Greetings, My Readers! Today is a Special Day in My Family! I like to think of it as The Only Reason that I celebrate The Month of October (besides Autumn Foliage) because after all, I Hate Halloween. That Reason of course, is My Brother, Michael. You See, Today is actually Michael’s Birthday and He turning 28 Years Old. Yes, I can’t believe it either. So, Let’s Sing to My Brother!

Haaapppy Birthday to You, You smell like a Poo (Just Kidding!); I Love You, My Little Brother, and You smell like One too! Now, Isn’t that Nice?! Anyway, I’m not sure that I have actually written a Newsletter on My Brother’s Birthday or not, I have always written one near It (Either Before or After) but, Never on It. So, Why Not, Write a Newsletter about My Brother, Michael. Now, I have done Odes to My Mom, PTLS Family Members, and Myself, but Not My Brother. So, I am going to do a Ode to My Brother, Michael entitled Michael, If It weren’t for You (You don’t even Knooow!). By The Way, “You Don’t Even Knoow!” is one of My Brother’s Trademark Sayings! So, Without Further adue, Here it goes!

Michael, If It weren’t for You (You don’t even Knooow!)

• I would not have a Little Brother
• I would be an Only Child. Which Frankly, would be Very Lonely and Totally NOT helpful with My Development of PTLS
• I would not have had You to Push me to do Things in a Helpful Way
• I would have not had help to Get up onto The Jungle Gym that I wanted to go up on as a Child, but It was too High for Me to Reach. So, You helped push Me up to go up there. I probably would say, just Given Up
• No One to Talk about Guy Things and Help with Girlfriends
• No One Helping and Supporting Me as much as You could when We went to Our Dad’s House.
• No One to say “C’Mon Christian” to get me to do things because I was stubborn to do things sometimes
• No One to come with the Term “Butt Buster” on The Trampoline when We were Kids
• No One to see How High I could jump when We were Kids.
• No One to call me “Chris-Pee-In” when We were Kids because It hard to say My Name as a Child.
• No One to Teach Me about Art. And, Not The Art that School teaches you, The “Funky Art” (as I like to call it) that You taught me
• To Show me that “Art is subject to One’s Own Interpretation”. the Most Crucial Thing about Art because There may be Art that offends People or that People don’t understand.
• No One to Introduce Me to Your Friends in High School or Senior High School.
• No One to Show me Typical Behaviors with Friends and Acceptance from Your Friends as well
• No One in Our Family that has such Long Hair
• No Little Brother to be Proud of His Big Brother’s PTLS
• No Little Brother to take The Big Brother Role. Even We though switch those Roles every Now and Then.
• No Little Brother to also to be Proud of
• No One whose Name I mix up for Time to Time, It is Michael, Not Micheal. 
• No One to teach you that It really does matter, The Girlfriend that You choose. I guess that Goes for The Both of Us.
• No One to hang out with Us on Family Breakfast Sundays
• No One to Show My Mom and I how Proud to feel when You are hosting Your Own Art Gallery (at least in an Art Gallery)
• No One to Give Extra Love to The Dogs Sometimes
• There would not be a Handsome Boy Dog named Paco that Is Your Dog. The Dog would be in an unpleasant place had You or Us, not taken care of Him.
• No One with Your Humor to almost name Your Dog, Paco; Grandpa Banjo before settling on Banjo and Finally, Paco because it sounded like Taco.
• Other than Autumn Foliage, No other Reason to Celebrate October.
• No One to talk about News and Politics, but in an Interesting Perspective than Others.
• No One to Write a Newsletter about Today (Hehe)
• No One to show us This Strange City that You live in known as Denver, Colorado.

So, as You can see, I have quite an Awesome Brother and I wish him to Happiest of Birthdays. All in all, I Love My Brother very much and I really do Miss Him a lot while He is up in Colorado. And, I cant wait to see My Brother doing His Dreams in The Future.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Every Now and Then, Show Your Family Member appreciation and Love. They will Love You Back!

The Christianville Spirit: Let's Talk about Halloween

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

October 25th, 2017-TCS # 567

So, Happy Halloween, My Readers! and, a Happy Birthday to My Brother, Michael! His Birthday is Tomorrow! I do not like Halloween. Remember to be Kind to The Kids Trick or Treating and Try Not to be too Scary. Happy Halloween Everyone! So, It is that Time of Year again, The Time of Year that unlike Christmas, I dread. Halloween. Okay, so, Two Things that come to Mind with This Newsletter. One Thing is Halloween was NOT as Scary as it is Today. Yes, I thought that Halloween deserved a History Lesson because Halloween might as well be a Holiday from Hell (Sorry Kids!) Actually, There are People who believe that and can back it up with Scary Facts. So, Halloween (otherwise known as “Hallowe’en” or What it originally was called back in Pagan Europe, Pre-Christianity, “Samhain”. (or Basically, My Least Favorite Holiday) Anyway, Halloween or Samhain is a Celtic Holiday that is basically the Eve before All Saints Day. A little darker version of Christmas Eve basically. Anyway, People in the Celtic Region went to Neighbor’s or Friends House to knock on Their Door and Recite Poems to The Door Answerer, and for that, They would get a Treat of some sort. Yes, they did dress up, but only as Angels or Mock-Spirits to prevent Real Spirits of The Bad Kind from Harming them. So, In other words, They would trick The Spirits into thinking that They were another Bad Spirit. Again, The Celtic Rumor at the Time was that Spirit of Good and Bad would come to Earth more likely on Samhain. Maybe because All Saint’s Day was a not-so-great day to do that. So, “Trick or Treating” took it’s form going from Reciting Poems to Pranks for Treats, which then turned an Americanized Holiday and Now, We “Trick or Treat” to get Candy. Some say, It is a Night for The Kids to get Candy and Get High on Sugar, that and dress in Cute Costumes (like Super Heroes). As long as There is No Mask, I am okay in that category. Others say It is a Night for Mischief. Now, to be fair, Mocking Spirits in either Good or Bad Ways, back in The Celtic Days, probably was considered Mischief. and, This is where Halloween gets Bad because Today’s Mischief means Toilet Paper and Egging. I, of course, would never do that. and, Finally, The Pranks. Now, People can get Extreme with Pranks and of Course, dressing as Scary as You can and Scare Kids. Logic says, It is Scary Holiday, Right?! Well, The Pranks, The Scary (Costumes with Masks and Scary Figures), and The Mischief are Why I Hate Halloween. Honestly, for Some People who don’t celebrate Halloween, those are The Facts that They use to say that Halloween is a Hellish Holiday. Now, Here comes the Second Thought here, but, I was reading an Article from a Site called “Scary Mommy” it basically described Halloween for a More Autistic Kid Way of “Observing Halloween”. They, I feel are The People in The Middle. The People that really don’t want Observe Halloween but, Yet They don’t want to be Counted Out of Halloween. In Other Words, They have to Conform to Halloween. Come to Think of It, They would be Okay, Reciting Poems and then, Maybe flipping on and off The Lights! Now, Back when I was Kid, I pretty much had to Conform to it. I did not want to go Trick or Treating, but Everyone else was doing it and I did not want to not be Included in it. Luckily, I lived on a Street that had a Cul’d Sac and Four Yards interconnected. So, We would have a Little Block Party on Our Cul d’ Sac. At That Time, I was more fascinated with Hanging Out with The Block Party because it seemed like Fun to do so. Of Course, When It was time to go Trick or Treating, I did not want to, I wanted to stay at the Block Party but, I went Anyway. The Most Exciting Part to me of Trick or Treating was not The Candy or Shouting “Trick or Treat!” I was more Excited about Ringing The Doorbell and Seeing The Inside of My Neighbor’s House. The Scary Mommy article mentions that Her Child likes to go inside and Look at The Lights or some off thing in Their Neighbor’s Houses. After all, Special Needs Logic and Regular Logic would say that if You rang the doorbell of Someone’s House and They answer it, that means You can Come In and Talk. Now, I did not do that as a Kid, but I did look inside from The Front Door to what I could see Inside. Because I was Curious about The Lights inside. After that, I did that at Every House. It is a Chance to see what was Inside Your Neighbor’s House even just for a Second. I was a Kid, who really like the Style of Lights. I really liked The Flashing Lights or Lights that did different things inside their House. After going Trick or Treating, I was excited to get back to The Block Party, It is a Fun Time! These Days, I am glad that I don’t have to conform to Halloween. I can Hide in My House, Watch TV, or Maybe go to The Book Store and Read while All the Kids go Trick or Treating. I know that I am not Alone because I have talked to others that feel the same way. All We ask for is Some Understanding and Respect! All in all, Just Because You like Halloween does not mean that Your Child does. Anxiety goes way up and it does not feel good!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. We all have Our Favorite Holidays, Halloween is not Mine! 

The Christianville Spirit: Find Out Who The Fettuccine You are

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

October 18th, 2017-TCS # 566

Ciao, Hallo, and Hola, My Readers! Wow! A Triple Greeting! Those are from all Three of My Origins, Italian, German, and Puerto Rican. So, On to This Week’s Newsletter and I promise it’s a Good One! Ya Know, There is question that People have to ask in Their Lifetime, Who The Fettuccine Am I?! I don’t mean, who are you, meaning The Personality side of You, but Who are You in The Background? My Name is Christian, I am Christian, and I have Potocki-Lupski Syndrome, what else is there to know? Well, how much what Descent are You from? My Mom’s side is Italian (Grandma Honey’s Father was Italian) and German (Grandma Honey’s Mom, Great Grandma Mimi was German) and, Of Course, My Dad’s Side is Puerto Rican. But, In Life, You are curious to want to learn about What Percent of What are You? and, Where exactly are You from? Well, I found out the answers to that Question via My Mom, Asking My Grandma Honey, and Research. So, First, I will tell you the Percentages of My Background. I am 

40 % Puerto Rican (Made up of 80% Spanish White, 8% Black, and .4 % Native American)

 25 % Italian

 25 % German

10% Irish

So, It was if I did My Ancestry Report without Submitting anything, just doing Research between My Mom and I. Now, I will say that with Two Sides of a Family and Two Descents, There may or may not be a Little Bias. Often You are told what Decent to Identify with. For Example, My Dad and His Family always told me to Identify as Puerto Rican (or Puerto Ricaño). As I did at the PTLS Mini-Conference (Maybe I should call it “PTLS Conference on The Road or PTLS Conference to You!”) in Madrid, Where I said I was Part-Puerto Ricaño. Actually, There is where My Last Name (Like or not) Centeno, came from. After All of Our Research, I feel that I would Identify with both of Puerto Ricans or Italians because of My Love of Pasta and Italian Food in General. However, I can Thank the Germans for bringing us The Language of English. Yes, Folks! It is True, in case You did not know that English comes from German and Yes, even a little Dutch.

 Anyway, Continuing with The Research because Percentages on Graphs and Statistics of Things fascinates me. What got me more curious more than The Percentages was The Where of it. Too many times, When it comes to History of Things, We tend to focus on the Who and the When, but not too much on the Where, that is unless The Where in History is Important. Now, If You tie all that together, I feel that it makes The History more Exciting and More Interesting to want to learn about. If It is not Interesting to us, then We think it is Boring. We think it is Boring, when History is told in a less Interesting Way. I remember in School that it is was like that and Pulling back to Family, At One Time, I was more Interested in Playing with My Cousins than Listening to at least what I thought at the Time, was boring History Stories from My then-Great Grandma Mimi. I bet you that She tell us The Who, The What, The When, and The Where; All Best Parts of a Story. Honestly, I wish I would have appreciated it more than I do now. But, You live and Learn, and Sometimes, although You may think that History is boring and Does not relate to You, but Oh, It Does! 

Anyway, (Clearing Throat), Back to My Research Story Here! I did Find out the Where of My Family. My Dad’s Side is Easy because My Dad’s Dad lived in a Town called Manati which is a Few Hours West of San Juan. I believe that, The Spanish part of My Dad’s Family came from Toledo, Spain. My Brother found that out and I found out while I was in Spain. 

The Italian/German/Irish Side of The Family, My Mom’s Side, took a Little more research. The Italian Part is from My Great Grandma Baba, who married Great Grandma Mimi who was German. After that, came Grandma Honey, came My Mom, came Me. I was Curious about it because I knew that We were Northern Italian (and, Yes, I am told, It really matters whether You are Northern or Southern Italian) But, to say that You are “Northern Italian”, to me, Is Very Broad! Northern Italy can range anywhere from Rome (Roma) to Milano-Torino (Milan and Turn respectfully!). Italian Names for Cities! it sounds Better, Okay?! Anyway, We are from a Town (now a City) called Bergamo in The Italian Region of Lombardia. But, There is a Little of us that is Tuscan (or Toscana) from Pisa. I like to know the Nearest Major City when It comes to Geography and Where Places are. It is Northeast of The Major City of Milano. 

The German Side came from Great Grandma Mimi, who was German. Now, to say that You are German again is Very Broad as Germany is a Large Country. So, You could be Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfort, or any other City in between German. We are from a City called Stuttgart. The Nearest Major City on This side of Germany is Frankfurt. Although, Stuttgart can be considered a City of It’s Own. 

Of Course, The 10 Percent Irish segment of Me, comes from My Mom’s Dad, Popi who was a little bit of Irish. We are not what region of Irish, but because Ireland is a smaller and less broad Country, I would probably guess that We were from Dublin. Now, I have heard that You could get Ancestry Citizenship of a Country like Ireland, like I feel that with respect to Ireland, I don’t feel that Irish. Italian, is more of a Likely Ideal. When You have Family Names like Borella, Cravero, and Vitagliano, You can’t get any more Italian than That! All in all, If You are Curious about History or Your Own History, I think You ought to check it out because You may find Interesting Things!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Learn Where You Come from!

The Christianville Spirit: J-S Right Place, Right Time

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

October 11th, 2017-TCS # 565

Cześć, My Readers! Wow! This is a New and Very Challenging-Appearing Greeting. It is actually means Hello in Polish! Now, Contrary to what looks hard to say, It is pronounced “Chest” like the Chest Part of Your Body or in other words, the part of your body that covers Your Heart. So, You learned something new! Way to go, My Readers! Anyway, on to This Week’s Newsletter! So, If You may recall in My Newsletter in 2016 that I have picture of Myself and A Woman who I mention at the End of My Newsletter. Refer to “The Untold Story of Mrs. Bachman and Mrs. James” (Newsletter 509). I mention her like This,

“One Last Note here, I met the Vice President of The College that My Mom works at and told her about My Mom (Who is a Brilliant Teacher as well!) about How Awesome The College is too. I hope that Someday soon They will have Work Programs for People like Me at The College. I know The VP is working on it. So, A Shoutout to VP Jennifer, who I will admit looks more like Her Name should be Samantha, therefore referring to her as Jennifer-Samantha. Shout Out!” 

Well, Jennifer-Samantha, as I refer to Her as, is to say the least is a Very Successful and Busy Woman! That is a Very Good Thing! So, A Couple Weeks ago, She said that She wanted to go to Dinner with us because She is Very Interested about My Fascination with Geography/History/Politics as well as The PTLS Story as well, and All the Places I have been so far. So, She invited us to Dinner last night and in True Jennifer-Samantha Fashion, It happened to be “Volunteer Night” at a Local Restaurant, Texas Roadhouse. So, On top of The Greatness of Going to Dinner, We also helped The Community of McKinney because 20% of Your Bill was Donated to a Group called “Volunteer McKinney.” Well, as Destiny would have it, Grandma Honey-Style, We ran into The Owners of a Place called “Hug’s Cafe”. Yes, that “Hug’s Cafe”, The one who for the First Time in Our Area, Hires those with Special Needs in the Food Industry. Now, Okay, There are Places that Hire those with Special Needs including Grocery Stores and The Baseball Stadium that I once worked at,( It might have been Hot to stand Outside in The Summer but, It was a Fun Job!) But, Hiring those with Special Needs are far in between. It really was an Honor to meet them! What was Funny though, is that When they walked up to us, It was as if They had felt like They had seen us before and Perhaps They did! or it might have been The Right Place at The Right Time type of Destiny. After We talked to them, We sat down and Hung out with Jennifer-Samantha as People wanted to see her and talk to her. Jennifer-Samantha is of and is in High Demand, She is a Hot Commodity, Ya Know! Actually, A Couple that wanted to see her was going to sit somewhere else and Sweet J-S invited them to eat Dinner with us and They did. Doing It Grandma Honey-Style! More Friends! The More, The Merrier! Dani and Claude Day were Their Names. They were Interesting People to talk to, We talked about Fasinating Things and Yes, including Airplanes and Airports. It was Very Interesting, The People that I talked to or were Introduced to. I Thank Jennifer-Samantha in a Big Way because of The Way that She Introduced me with such Pride, “This is Christian, You got to Meet Him! Hear His Story!”. I felt loved and accepted by Everyone! I look forward to Spending Time with Them and Jennifer-Samantha herself, again. Finally, Speaking of The Right Place at The Right Time, I felt a bit frustrated about An Event earlier in the day and so was Jennifer-Samantha, but Our Time hanging out, brought Talking and Laughing.  It reminds me of a Few Weeks Ago when I was Frustrated about Workers taking down a Part of My Fence to cut out a Part of One Our Trees and as I walking, My Neighbor’s Child, “Dom” ran across The Street to Hug Me and I thought to myself, “You have No Idea how much that helped me!”. All in all, Sometimes, Destiny has a Funny Way of working itself through. Gratis Destino! (Thank You Destiny in Italian). Of All Words in Italian, That is My Favorite Phrase!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. It is Good to feel loved and accepted.  

The Christianville Spirit: The Good Doctor

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

October 4th, 2017-TCS # 564

Happy October, My Readers! Yes, Some People just love October. It means Autumn, Pumpkins, Pumpkin-spice Lattes, and Of Course, Halloween. Me? I only like it because It is My Brother’s Birth-Month and for Fall Foliage but, Halloween is in Not My Favorite Holiday. So, on to This Week’s Newsletter and Happy 11th Year of Writing to Me! So, This Week’s Newsletter is about something that has been Unconventional for The Longest Time. Don’t Worry, Folks! It is not going to get real like Last Week’s Newsletter. So, There is a New Medical Drama in TV and It is actually better than Grey’s Anatomy, Better than Grey’s Anatomy?! No Way! That is Crazy! It is actually from Writer of The Former-Medical Drama, House. This Show takes on The Medical World with a Huge Twist, The Doctor has Autism. Yes, Really, Autism. So, The Show is called The Good Doctor and contrary to belief, There are a Ton of what They call “Good Doctors” or Basically, Doctors that have Special Needs out there. As Long as They are Morally Right, Can Speak as Clearly as Possible, and Have a Passion to Save Lives, then You can become a Doctor! Anyway, This Show stars a Doctor named Dr. Shaun Murphy, who has Autism, but is Extremely Smart and Can Sense Things that Most People can not. My Mom and I started watching this show Two Weeks Ago, Once to give it a Trial Run to see if We like it or not, and Move on from There. Well, Long Story, Short, It opened My Mom’s Eyes up to the Mind of Someone with Autism, as well as Myself. 

Like, The First Thing, He can Imagine the Medical Anatomy of Particular Region of The Body, has it Pictured in His Head, and then can figure out What is Wrong with The Patient. It is something that I can do, only with Maps. I can Image a Part of The World while explaining about a Country or Explaining History of When something happened. 

The Next Thing, Opened My Eyes, with an Issue of Communication and (At Least for Me) The Distress of Someone in The Hospital, How do You explain what You are seeing to Another Doctor that needs to hear it? Well, First Off, The Distress did not bother him because His passion is to Save Lives! Anyway, The Way They animate this Show, They show on a Screen what He is Seeing as to What is Wrong with Said Patient, but trying to Explain to another Doctor along with The Hardness of Communication and The Doctor’s sometimes don’t listen because They believe that, “He doesn’t Know Anything! He has Autism!” and, that can’t be farther from The Truth. Sometimes, even though I have PTLS and I can Communicate well, I sometimes have trouble conveying certain things as well. Because so many things are going on in My Mind that I want to say, that My Mind gets ahead of Me. One Thing that I connected with was that He listened to Each Order that The Doctors (who did not understand him) said and Took it in Every Literal sense of The Word. Regardless, of Whether They were being Sarcastic or Just Plain Mean! Sometimes, Doctors can be that way. Not Our PTLS Doctors Though!

Another Thing that He did that amazed me was His Intuition! Whereas I have Intuition about People’s Emotions, Dr. Shaun Murphy had Intuition about People’s Health. For Example, There was a Little Girl with a Stomach Ache and Shaun thought it was Something other than a Stomach Ache. One of The Doctors mentioned about The Girl’s Parents arguing, and Shaun was told to send The Girl home because They thought that It was Only a Stomach Ache caused by Stress. Later, Dr. Shaun did one of Images in His Head and Figured out what was Truly Wrong with Her. He then went to The Girl’s House and try to help Her and The Arguing Parents did not believe him. Shaun used his Power of Obsession by knocking on The Door repeatedly, and Finally, got in to see that Shaun was Right about The Little Girl, Her Intestines were Twisted, making her Stomach Ache. I can relate to that because Us PTLSers have that Stubborn/Determined/Obsessive Streak. She went into Surgery and came out Okay. But, What amazed me was that He sensed it, He broke a Few Rules trying to care for Her, and He was Completely Right. Had Shaun not been there and so determined, She would have Died. Who says that Stubbornness and Obsessing never got you anywhere! In This Case, It actually has gotten Him results for what He thinks is going on. If a Mean Doctor says No, He will Obsess and Find a Way to get it Done! Just like Dr. Shaun has another Doctor to support and fight for Him because The other Doctors don’t want him there, I have Someone to Support and Fight for Me to get a Job that I can do that Others think I can’t. After Watching This, I noticed the Discrimination of People with Special Needs, it does not matter what Special Needs they have. All in all, Just like Dr. Shaun Murphy is Smart in The Medical World, I am Smart in the Geography World like People will not give me an Opportunity in the Job World! I just need an Opportunity!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. See A Person Abilities, Not Disabilities. It Might save your Life! 

The Christianville Spirit: Weird Family; Explaining What I had and What My Mom did

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

September 27th, 2017-TCS # 563

Happy Autumn, My Readers! That is the Old English Way of saying, Fall. Honestly, I like to refer to Fall as Autumn, It sounds much nicer! So, Gather ‘round, My Readers, Rather ‘round! It is Time for Another Untold Story of My Life! This One, I feel is going to a Funny One and I am going to Warn You Folks, It is Definitely Not Traditional! 

So, The other Day, My Mom and I talking and started talking about My Childhood. It led to The Topic of What My Mom did for a Living when I was a Kid. We had a Good Laugh and I said “Boy, We were a Weird Family!”. Funny How You realize just how Weird your Family is or was when You get older in Life.

So, As A Child, There are a Few Questions that You can be asked of when You talk to Your Friends or Your Friend’s Parents, “What does Your Mom and/or Dad do?”. Other than that You proudly say What Your Parents do. In a Child’s Mind, If Your Parents do something simple and easy to explain, well it is Easy to explain. Presently My Mom is a Professor at a Community College teaching Medical and Health Care Classes, President of The Potocki-Lupski Syndrome Foundation, and The Last one, Part-Time Lactation Consultant. Easy to Explain, at least Right Now that is. Now, try to Imagine, Trying to explain or at least, wanting to Explain what Special Needs You have or in other words, Why I have a Little Twang in My Voice that is a bit Nasally. I have Potocki-Lupski Syndrome (or PTLS), It is Autistic-like. We are like Autism, only Friendlier. Again, Easy to explain. Well, Let’s flash back to When I was a Child! (Sound of Time Machine Whooshing). I am in 4th or 5th Grade in the Late 90’s, Old enough to want to explain what I had and What My Mom did. At This Time in My Life, I knew that I had something called “A Duplication of Chromosome 17” because at the Time, Dr. Potocki and Dr. Lupski had not put a Name to It yet. Add to that, that not A lot of People had “What I had”, I was 4th in The World and 1st in The United States, A Blessing and a Curse at the Same Time. Again, This was at The Time. Now, My Mom, at the time, was a Nurse, but, did Lactation Consultation until She decided add on Massage later on a Couple Years Later to help with The Child Birth and Parenting Classes that She was Teaching.

Now, Lactation Consultation (We will just call it LC), to put it simply, is teaching Your Baby to basically feed from The Mother. The Mother’s Breast. Also known as Breastfeeding (I will be Honest, those Words make me Laugh still). Now, as A Child, I could not even pronounce LC, All I knew was The Alternate Name, “Breastfeeding” because that was, what it was, to put it simply, It was Breastfeeding. So, When that question came about, What does Your Mom do and Why do You speak Funny? I answered Very Proudly (even though I probably had No Idea what I was actually saying) “My Mom does Breastfeeding” and I talk Funny, again answering Proudly “I have a Duplication of Chromosome 17”. I got quite a Few Puzzled Looks when I said both of Those. Both of Which I usually said, Just ask My Mom. Yes, even though I had No Idea how to explain about What I had, I would still say “Do You want to do what Special Needs I have?” They would answer Yes, thinking it was something Easy like Autism or Down Syndrome. Nope, I had something that was more More Unique and Even though, I was Rare and 4th in The World having it, I was Extremely Proud! Even My Brother had a Hard Time explaining, What My Mom did and What I had. He was curious one time about What Color the Milk was that coming of These Moms, thinking It might be Red like Blood or maybe Blue or Green. My Mom did her job at The Hospital, Doctor’s Office, or At the Client’s House. So, We did not see her when She was doing her job with The Babies and the Moms. It made things confusing, This was not a “Take Your Kids to Work” Day kind of Work. But, We did go to Her Business Partner, Mrs. Ramirez’s House every now and then. We went to School with Mrs. Ramirez’s Kids. As for Explaining What I had, It was Hard to explain, let alone pronounce “a Duplication of Chromosome 17” and Know what I was saying. At The Time, My Brother, Michael, was Very Confused! All We knew was that I had something Very Unique! So , I look back on all of That and Laugh because it was not Easy at all. All in all, If You need to know how The Body works (even if You are not Breastfeeding, Pregnant, or Parenting), She can help you understand all the Medical Stuff, and She is The Expert on PTLS!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Embrace Your Weird Family!