The Christianville Spirit: My 600th Newsletter

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

July 11th, 2018-TCS # 600

Well, My Readers, It is The Moment that We have been waiting for, My 600th Newsletter! Yes, Ladies and Gents, 600 Newsletters that I have written! So, I am just as surprised as You are! I am amazed that It is My 600th Newsletter! Historically speaking, When I started Writing This Newsletter, It was not Every Wednesday, it was more like Every Other Week and then, on Odd Days like Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday to name a few. I finally chose Wednesday to make it a routine and It stuck. I figured also that Nothing was going on that day and It was a Perfect Time of The Week.  I have been Writing Every Wednesday Faithfully with a Few Breaks or Vacations since then. So, Before We get to the Subject of The 600th Newsletter, Let’s see what I wrote about in Past, what I now call “Milestone Newsletters”. The Following are references and Newsletter Titles. 

• 100th Newsletter: “Playlist of Your Life” Series; Popi (April 2008)
• 200th Newsletter: “All Thanks to You” Series; My Readers (May 2010)
• 300th Newsletter: Launch of My “I Believe In Love” Campaign (May 2012)
• 400th Newsletter: “Happiness....Simplified” Series: What is Happiness to Me (May 2014)
• 500th Newsletter: My Dreamscape- Now (June 2016)

and, That brings us to Now! So, Something Amazing happened a Couple Weeks ago that I have been meaning to tell you about! So, as My Veterans know, I spent most of My Childhood living in a Cool House that had 4 Inter-Connected Yards, a Creek, a Trampoline, and a Cul-de-Sac. It was a rather Great Childhood! 

My Mom and Mr. Jeff were Trying blend Families, which made it really cool because We were all around The Same Age and All of The Kids in The Neighborhood were The Same Age. Sadly, Things did not work out. We now call it “The Mr. Jeff Era”. It came with Great Memories, Great Childhood Friends, Great Lessons, and Great Times. Sometimes in Life, People get Busy with Other Things and The Next Thing You know it, Years have gone by that You have seen them.

The Truth is that I have not seen Him in Person in about 8 to 10 Years. So, It has been a Long Time! Funny Thing though, I never got a Chance to really Thank Him for How He helped raise My Brother and I as well as His Own Kids. You See, I did not have much of a Father Figure in My own Father so, Mr. Jeff was a Brilliant Substitute for a Father Figure. He taught us a lot of Things including Taking Your Shoes off when Entering Someone’s House, which I still do Today. He taught me a lot! He helped push through My PTLS Stubborn Streak like teaching me how to Tie My Shoes, Even Mow the lawn, and Drive a Go-Cart. He believed in Me and I found out recently, just how much He learned about Me and Understood about My PTLS before There was a Such Thing as PTLS, more than I even realized. I never got a Chance to thank him, that is until A Couple Weeks Ago. Due to Unforeseen Circumstances, Our Car needed His Expertise and Later, We ended up having to get a New Car. But, Through This Stressful Time, It brought us a Rare Opportunity to Thank Him. It just came out of Nowhere like “Thank You for The Amazing Childhood that You gave us!”. At The Time that I last saw Him, I probably was not Mature Enough to think about Thanking Him for All that We did Together as a Blended Family. We got to do a lot of Things like Many Times going to Our Lake House out in The Country, Times on Our Boat (And, believe me, It took Time to warm up to The Idea of riding on a Boat), The Cul-De-Sac and Halloween Parties on The Block (even though I did not like Halloween), the Path I paved in His Yard from Pacing Back and Forth, The 4 Inter-Connecting Yards to Run around, Great Neighbours and Friends, and Of Course, All The Fun Times that We had jumping on The Trampoline doing What I called “Butt Busters”; On Top of Many, Many other Things and Opportunities that We had. In a Way, The Thank You was not Enough for Such an Awesome Time as What We had. But, I am glad that I could given him The Recognition that I felt that He deserved. It is Important to Me because It is Difficult to find a Father Figure who Loves You and Understands All of Yourself and Your Special Needs. So, Mr. Jeff means a lot to Me and No Matter where He is, He will always be My Mr. Jeff. I Love You, Mr. Jeff!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Thank Someone who has been a Big Part of My Life.

The Christianville Spirit: Your Soul Place

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

June 27th, 2018-TCS # 599

Happy Early National Holidays of Canada Day and USA’s Fourth of July, My Readers! A Longer Greeting This Time. It is funny that Two Neighbour’s National Holidays are within Days of Each Other. Yes, It is seems kind of Early, but This is to cover My Bases because I will be taking off The Week of Fourth of July, I actually would have written on The Fourth of July and being that I am a Newsletter away from My 600th Newsletter, It might be a Good Idea to Take off before The Big 600th Newsletter. So, Just to let you know.

 So, 600 Newsletters! Can You Believe It?! It is Milestone that each time I hit The 100 Series Mark, I can not believe that I have made it that Far.

That must take a lot of Writing along with All The Times that I have taken off, Subjects Written about, and Life Events happening. 

So, Let’s Celebrate! So, What shall I write about for My Pre-Lead into My 600th Newsletter? hmm...Lots of Choices! I have done some good lead ins. Among them, Here they are, along with References...

• Pre-100th Newsletter: “Playlist of Your Life Series” (April 2008)
• Pre-200th Newsletter: “All Thanks to You Series”: PTLS Families (May 2010)
• Pre-300th Newsletter: “About The Girl of My Dreams” (May 2012)
• Pre-400th Newsletter: “Happiness...Simplified Series” (April 2014)
• Pre-500th Newsletter: “My Dreamscape-Before” (June 2016)

Which brings us to Now. So, How do I top This? Well, I am going to Talk about Something that has been Whirling in My Head. So, What or Actually Where is “My Soul Place”? Heaven, Christians might say. Well, Yeah. But, I mean, a Soul Place on Earth, while You are Living until You go to Heaven at The End of Your Life. Okay, so There is No such Thing or So I thought, until A Friend of Mine visited Hers and Discovered It! Who Knew?! So, A Soul Place as a Word I made up that actually means Something, Defines as a Place You feel like You have been to Before. In Other Words, Not a Place that You have Literally been more than One Time but, A Place where Your Soul feels both like an Odd Sense of Deja Vu, a Supernatural Feeling beyond Rationality, and Most of All, A Place that You feel You just Belong. It is a like The feeling of Being in Love with Your Long-Lost Soulmate, but instead of a Person, It is a Place. Weird, Huh? That is what I thought. You could think of it as The Thing that The HGTV Show House Hunters International is made out of. You know, those times, Where they explain that These Parents move off to Let’s just say, Europe and The Perfectly Independent Adult Children stay back here in The United States. You talk to The TV as if They can hear you saying “Why Would You Do That?!” to which if You knew them, They would say either “Because I fell in Love” or “Because It Make me Happy”, using One or Both of Those Answers. Now, The Friend I speaking of, Part of Me seeing what She is doing and wonders The Same Question I would as if watching House Hunters International and Part of Me knows what kind of a Person I am seeing doing this, thinking “The Heart wants what The Heart wants” or in this case, “The Soul wants what The Soul wants”. Now, barring in Mind that My Friend is one that is a “Gypsy Soul”, in Other Words, a Soul that always wants to Wander and Never stay in The Same Place. However, My Friend, We will call her, “Gypsy January” for Writing Purposes, She has lived everywhere from Hawaii, The East Coast, and Her Present Home in The Midwest. But, I feel that Her Gypsy Soul has just been wandering Her Whole Life thirsting for Where The Heck It’s Soul Place Is and Finally, I believe It has found it. Now, I have only been Her Friend for a Couple Years, so I did not see her Level of Happiness in either East Coast or Hawaii, but It does not seem like Her Gypsy Soul was Happy in either of Those Places, which leaves her wanting to go to Her Soul Place as soon as Possible. She believes that Her Soul Place is Oregon. It is sort of like The Soulmate Theory, after Meeting Your Soulmate, You wished you would have found them sooner, like Several Days, Months, or Years Sooner. But, Ya Know, Destiny has funny ways of Working Out. That is both Relieving and Frustrating at The Same Time. “It’s in God’s Time” I am told and led to believe. Now, The Problem with that, is that, You hope to God that Your Family lives near Said Soul Place, in which Gypsy January’s does not. Now, In Wondering about Mine, it makes me worry because I am a Family Man, I want to live pretty close to My Family like My Mom, Michael, and Smith Family. I mean, What if, Mine is out in Europe like Sweden, Switzerland, or Czechia. That is Very Far from Family! I have noticed in My Woman of My Dreams Projections as to Where They are from, both “Dream Girl”, Carol Holiday (Refer to That Story) and My Woman of My Dreams that I believe is named, Bridgett, both used to live in The Same Area, The Northeast, like New England. Now, I have to consider a lot of Things when thinking about both My Soul Place and Living somewhere in The Future. This includes Things like Like-Mindedness (like Politics, Condition and so on), Natural Beauty, Closeness to either of My Three Families, Mom and Michael; Smith Family; and, of Course, PTLS Family Members, and then The Last Thing, Natural Disasters. Morbid, I Know. But, I Think of which one I would not mind living with. Choices (at Least in The US) are Hurricanes (South and Southeast US), Tornadoes (Texas, South, and Lower Midwest), Earthquakes (Pacific Northwest/California and near Memphis), and of Course Blizzards (Northeast and Upper Midwest). So, There is a lot to Consider. The Nearest I can think of is Maine where My Mom grew up or North Carolina with Mountains one way and Beach the other way. Now, The Last Thing that makes me think and It applies to “Gypsy January” as well is that, Sometimes You are told where You should live or even where Your Soul Place is. Funny Thing is that, You never know where Your Soul Place is until You land there or drive there and You fall Head over Heals for that place.  I mean, My Friend did not know that Oregon was Her Soul Place until She stepped outside to seeing The Coastline of Oregon. All in all, Your Soul Place is out there, There is  Such a Place as That. In My Friend, “Gypsy January’s” Advice is to Follow Your Heart and Of Course, Follow Your Dreams because, really You never know... That and Follow Your Dreams even if They are a bit Scary and Who Know’s You might Laugh about It in a Few Years if It is True, If It is not, then You’ll still Laugh because You tried.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Follow Your Dreams and Heart! You will find that Soul Place.

The Christianville Spirit: The History of The Christianville Spirit- A Christianville Classic

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

June 20th, 2018-TCS # 598

Howdy, My Readers! That is how We Texans say Hello. I have been confused with Counting My Newsletters, both on My Website and on My Calendar, mostly My Calendar. It only turned out that My Newsletter Numbers on My Website were Right but, The Ones on My Calendar were not. You See, as I count Every One of My Newsletters, I schedule The Newsletter Numbers ahead of Time on My Calendar in My Room so that I know what Newsletter Number comes what Week. Unfortunately, I don’t think about Those Times when Life has other Plans and I take a Week (or More) off.  In This Year’s Case, I had planned My Newsletter Numbers and accidentally skipped a Number on The Same Day. It is confusing when I put a Number at The End of The Month and on The Next Month Page I put a Number higher. Include The Two Weeks Off due to The Family Emergency We had in Atlanta and It is Very Confusing. So, I guess that shows How Loyal I am to My Readers that I make sure My Numbers are Correct. I am Big about that! I realized though that At My Current Rate, My 600th Newsletter is coming sooner than I had thought. So, with that In Mind, I figured that I would give you an Excellent Newsletter that I feel should make The Christianville Classic List! It explains about How I keep My Newsletters straight as well as It explains about The Great History of My Newsletter. It is Important to Me that I write about Topics that Important to PTLS Family Members and Others trying to understand The Way I see Life. I appreciate All of My Readers! You mean a lot to Me! You will see in This Newsletter, that I wrote Differently than I do now as well as that I only mention The Taglines that I used up until This Newsletter. Each Year, I ask My Readers for Input for New Taglines, so in Other Words, You, My Readers, Help me with Making This Newsletter a success. So, Without further a due, This is The Christianville Classic, The History of The Christianville Spirit

This Newsletter was written on April 1st of 2009 (Refer to Newsletter 142)

For those of you who have been reading The Christianville Spirit for a while have seen all the changes of this newsletter. But, however there are people who have been reading this since the beginning. So, I thought I would give you a view of the history of a newsletter called The Christianville Spirit. The Christianville Spirit or TCS for short started in Christianville, TN in November of 2005 as an email to My Mom and my friend Karleen about the 1st Christian’s Best Friends’ Festival. My Mom told me I should start writing a newsletter about my view on life because my view on life and the world is a unique view. One time I was writing stuff about The City of Christianville and I wanted a newspaper name for The Metro Area so, the word “Spirit” seamed like a good name to symbolize the Christianville Area. On Wednesday, October 4, 2006 was the first official “Christianville Spirit” and it was about my best friend Steven’s “10 Weeks of Awesome Behavior” back when he was in The Group Home. The Christianville Spirit has been known for its slogans. The slogans have changed over the years so, Here are a list of slogans and how long they lasted.

· The first slogan was “Serving The Christianville Metro Area” that lasted from the first Christianville Spirit to December 29, 2006.

· The 2nd slogan was “Christianville Metro Area’s Delight” which lasted one newsletter in January 2007

· The 3rd slogan was “Christianville’s #1 Newspaper” which lasted one newsletter on January 4, 2007

· The 4th slogan was “The Spirit of Christianville” which lasted January 9, 2007-December 27, 2007

· The 5th slogan was “The Spirit that touches Lives” which lasted January 3, 2008-December 29, 2008

· The 6th and current slogan is “The Spirit that touches Your Life” which lasts January 2009-the end of the year

Also, The Christianville Spirit has it’s share of websites it was posted on. The first website was 360.yahoo.com/mapkid2 which was my own personal Yahoo 360 site and after that it moved to it’s current site, thechristianvillespirit.blogspot.com. another The Christianville Spirit has been known for is it’s inspirational lines at the end of the newsletter, the first inspirational line was “ Have a Spiritful Day” in the 14th newsletter. The next thing my newsletter has been known for is its series. The first TCS Series was “Christianville Metro Highlight” which about my friends and family. In the series, I got the biggest reaction to my newsletter is the “Julie Smith-Centeno Edition” of that series. Before I started writing full articles I wrote about what was going on in my life and what was going on in Christianville, those sections of the newsletter were known the “Personal News” and Christianville News” section and Another section change was the addition of the “C. Metro Commentary”. Finally, In case your wondering what the “TCS # 143” heading means, that shows how many newsletters I’ve written since the 1st in October of 2006. all in all, it’s a lot of fun to write these newsletters each week.

Thanks for reading The Christianville Spirit. People’s good attitude depends on a good thought and good input. So, feed them good stuff!

The Christianville Spirit: A PTLS Dog's Routine

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

June 13th, 2018-TCS # 597

Wah’ Gwaan, My Readers! This is a New Greeting. It meaning What’s going on or What’s Up in Jamaican Patois. It is pronounced “Wa-Goo-Ahn”. Jamaican Patois or Jamaican Creole basically sounds like Slang Words and English Words, mashed together. You learn something new Everyday! Anyway, so onto This Week’s Newsletter. So, I have explained about My Routine and How it works (Refer to “My Schedule and Welcome to It” Newsletter). But, It has been brought to My Attention that My Routine has Changed a little bit but Is Showing More now that I have My Little Boy Dog, Paco around. By The Way, We found out what Kind of Dog He is! He is a Part Spanish Greyhound, Part Boxer, and Part Feist. I like to think that My 2 Year Old Boy Dog, Paco is like a Little PTLS Dog in his Behavior. I mean, He has a VERY High Energy Output where There are Times when He runs really fast. On Top of That, When He has a Purpose or thinks He does, He runs and Hops across The Yard “Like a Gazelle” as My Mom says. But, at The Same Time, He likes to have a Calm Environment which is part of His Breed as well as Liking to have a Routine, again Just like Me! PTLS Young Adult meets a PTLS Dog! I don’t think Dogs have it but, They sure can Act like It. I have been told that Dogs often adapt to Their Owners (or Pack Leaders) Behavior. So, After My Mom leaves for Work, I get up for a Second to Check to Make Sure that The Back Door in The House in Locked. My Brother, when He was living here always left it Unlocked. It would Drive Me Crazy! Now, It has become a Habit of just Touching The Lock even though I already know It is locked. I then grab Paco’s Favourite Toy and The Hardest Toy for Him to chew on if He needs it while I sleep. I usually drop it on The Rug outside My Room. I have done that Since He was Younger to keep him busy. He has calmed a lot since then. After That, I sleep until My Normal Time, 2:45PM. If It is not that Time, I wake up on Times ending in 5. The Other Dogs, Sadie and Zoe lay around while I sleep and sometimes, Sadie likes to sleep on The Curve of My Leg. I taught Her that to prevent her from going off too far when She was a Puppy. After I get up, if My Mom is not Home yet, I feed All The Dogs and Paco has his Bowl that He knows to Eat from. After that, I let Paco out first and I keep an Eye on Him until He Pees. Sometimes, He gets so Excited about The Sights and Sounds outside that He forgets to Pee (He is a little PTLS-ADD) So, I make sure I don’t do anything until He is done Peeing. After that, Then I can let Zoe and Sadie out. I have to watch Paco again because He will try to Nip at Sadie to get her to Run. Both My Mom and I are trying hard for Him not to do that. I am thinking that It is part of His Breed, probably The Boxer in Him. Then, Once I have gotten all The Dogs in, Given them a Treat, One Dog at a Time, then, I can start My own Routine of Eating My Lunch and Watching The News. I have changed a lot in that regard. I used to like CNN International for World News but, because We don’t get CNN International anymore, so I watch a Variety of Other News Channels. Anyway, after My Mom comes Home and I ask her How Her Day was and We hang out and Talk, then It is Time to watch The Local News, which We watch until 6:30. In The Middle of that, I let The Dogs out and let them hang out in The Yard. Anytime between 5:30 and 6:30 is Dinner Time, now with Mine and Paco’s Routine, Dinner Time really matters now. The Reason is because I have to get Paco’s Energy out. Because otherwise He drives Zoe and Sadie crazy by either running around The Coffee Table and to The Couch or Barking at Them. Believe Me, Paco is a Very Vocal Dog! He is Literally The Most Vocal Dog that We have had. He makes a Noise when He yawns; When He is like “All Right, I’ll lay down”; Then He stretches; and, of course, His Barking that He learned from Sadie and Believe Me, He has a Loud Bark. Anyway, I have to sit outside with Him No Later than 6:45 to get Him to Run and Get His Energy Out. And, Yes, He does Nip and Bark at Sadie and I try to get him to Stop but, Keep Running. Some Days all it takes a little Clap of My Hand and “Go Paco!” to get him excited for Him to Run around The Yard. He often has such a Fierce Run that He pushes too hard and ends up getting a Bit Overwhelmed. If He starts, Hacking then, I stop Him and be like “Okay, Paco, Control” I bring My IPad outside with Me to watch The Time because at 6:55 I have to be inside and Ready to Watch My Favourite Reporter on CNN, Jeanne Moos. Jeanne Moos does The Goofy or Odd Story of The News. She is Really The Only Reason I watch CNN anymore. Besides, Anderson Cooper’s The RidcuList, which is sort of like Jeanne Moos about The Goofy Story of The News. After I have done that, then My Mom and I watch several different Shows, Whatever is on that Evening. If It is Regular Season, Then We watch things like The Big Bang Theory/Young Sheldon, Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family and So On. Of Course, I let The Dogs out several more Times throughout The Evening when Paco starts to Whine about Wanting to Go Outside and Play, or One of The Dogs has taken his Spot to lay down on. His Favourite Spot which is Everyone Else’s The Recliner. So, then, nearing 9:00 I start watching Paco, The Clock, and My Mom. Now, My Mom is little more Unpredictable when It comes to When She goes to Bed. Of Course, When She is doing Work for The PTLS Foundation She can stay up pretty late. Again It depends. Now, Because Paco has a Sensitive Stomach, He would not be Feeling Good anytime after Midnight so I would give him a little bit of Food to help and usually It Did. I guess It stuck and He wanted to have a Little Food at Night. According to Our Research of His Breeds, The Greyhound is recommended to have Three Small Meals a Day where as We give Our Dogs Two Meals a Day. But, Anyway, Paco and I have started what I call “His Night-Night Routine”. Again, nearing 9:00, 9:30 if My Mom is Lucky, Paco will start staring at My Mom, giving her a Look like “When are You going to Bed tonight? Now, Perhaps?”. So, My Mom gets up and I tell Paco, “Are You Ready to start Your Night-Night Routine?”, His Ears perk up if He is laying down and If He is Staring at My Mom, He will look at Me. So, I have a lot to do in Starting His “Night-Night” Routine and I only have a Few Minutes. So, I let Paco and Sadie out a Final Time. Unless It is an “Emergency” then, I will let him out later. While, I have Paco and Sadie outside, I have to Change My Glasses, Flip My Day Markers, and Get My Computer set and Ready all before I let Paco back In. My Theory is That I have to Settle Myself down before I can Settle Him down. If I don’t, He will follow me around until I sit down. The Reason of such Short Time is that I would rather Him not be Outside for too Long whether It is Daytime or Nighttime because The Dogs can get into Trouble along with Other Risks like Wild Life Critters. So, then I get Paco and Sadie back in, then Sometime after All This, 

I go say My 1st Good Night to My Mom and I tell her a Few Finals thought of The Day and always end with a Positive Story of The Day. Paco whines at Me until I am done talking to My Mom. After That, I give Him a Little Food and Feed Him. I believe that is His Favourite Part of The Day because He can eat slower than He would normally Eat with The Other Two, Sadie and Zoe. He gets to Eat at His Pace. After that, I settle Myself and Him, I have Him lay in His Favourite Spot, The Recliner and We are both Happy. If I have to leave for a Second, I know He will be Fine. Of Course, I kiss Him on The Head most of The Times I see him. And, Finally, My Day ends at 2 AM where I say Good Night to My Mom (Tell Her the Things I did, Learned, and Positive Story), Make Sure My Nose is clean (A Stuffy Nose at Night is Bad for Me), Take Allergy Medicine, Tums for Acid Reflux, Door Check again, and Finally Kiss Paco Good Night (Tell Him I Love Him and Anything Else). Then, I head to Bed, Pray, and Off to Sleep I Go! So, that is a Very Detailed Routine of My Day. But, This Routine is Very Strict and Important to Me. When I have to wander away from My Routine like for Family Visits, Out-Of-Town Trips, It takes me a Couple Days to a Week to get back into My Routine and Comfort, Sometimes It includes a “Coming Down” Time which in Little Kids, You may call it a “Meltdown”,”Crying Spell”, or A Need for Hugs, Cuddles, and Reassurance, and It makes me feel Calm. So, Routine is Very Important!

 If Anything changes in Mine or Paco’s Routine, I let Him know. Yes, I do tell Paco of Any Changes that are Coming Up because It is Important to Him as well. All in All, that is How I live My Life.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Always Remember Your Child’s Routine, as Silly as It may seem!

The Christianville Spirit: Fun in Learning Geography

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience 

June 6th, 2018-TCS # 596

Happy Summer, My Readers! Yes, Folks! It is that Time of The Year, No, not Christmas or Halloween but, Summer Vacation Time! Time to Go on a Summer Vacation. Well, like Teachers often recommend, There could be a Lesson or Two during The Summer to Keep Our Minds Snappy and Ready for School again Next Year! Ha! I never thought that I would say that in My Life! Okay, so Lessons should be a bit less Labor or Homework-Intensive and More about Fun. In Other Words, Learning while having Fun. Just pick a Subject You want to Learn and do something Fun while Learning It! So, for Example, I have a Lesson for You! You See, I have Trouble with How Schools teach things like Geography. Now, I am of course of a Geography/History/Politics-mixed together Mind set kind of guy, so I understand. At The Time, In School, I understood Geography (or Social Studies as They called it) but, History was more difficult, only because History, The Way I was taught in School was Boring. Only because History, if It is not taught well is about The “When of It all”. As In, The Battle of 1812 was...Well, in 1812 and A brief explanation of What Happened at That Time. By The Way, The Battle of 1812 was what inspired Francis Scott Key to The Mention that “The Flag was still there” in Our National Anthem. Because amongst all of The Fighting at Night, Our National Flag, The Star-Spangled Banner at still flying at Ft. McHenry in Baltimore. See! Now, That is what I will call “Action History”. In Other Words, History that taught like an Action Movie. Now, We may have Our Own Favourite Genres of Movies but, You can’t resist a little Action in There. So, Same Thing, with Geography. To Often, Geography is where a Place is. For Example, a Country that I have recently interested in The Czech Republic or Known in English as “Czechia”, It is in what We Americans think is East Europe. So, We end up going to “Czechia” and commenting about How Beautiful Prague is for a City in Eastern Europe. You would have One Upset (or Triggered) Czech Person! First of The Czech Republic or “Czechia” (I like to refer to it as both) is actually in Central Europe NOT Eastern Europe. But, Beyond that, It makes you question more than Answers like What is Their Currency? Their Language? Anything Unique about This Country, in other words, What makes This Country special? I can answer that. Currency is The Czech Crown and Their Language is Czech. Now, It is that Last One that has recently interested me. It was Interested Me about How Many “Funky Letters” can be in a Czech Person’s Name and How do You pronounce those Letters? I had My Mom sit watching a Woman pronounce those while Eating Dinner the Other Night. She found it interesting!

Here is The Link to That Video because I know that You are Curious! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dot3LVAeABc) It also includes How to Pronounce and Say The Most “Funky” and Unique Letter in The Czech Alphabet, The Letter R with a Mark over It. It looks like This (Ř) It is said that It is Impossible to Pronounce but, It is Pronounced “Aerch” and That is in The Single Form and The Ř is Pronounced Very Differently from The Single Letter. Crazy, right? Also, “Czechia”, Which was formerly Czechoslovakia divorced with Slovakia and The Czech Republic’s Local Name was Hard to resound with English as did The Name, The Czech Republic. So, Last Year, The Leaders of The Country changed The English Name to Czechia. and, One Final Note before I move on, Czechia is also referred as Bohemia, but NOT all of Czechia is called Bohemia. There are like 4 Regions of Czechia but, The Most Important Ones are Bohemia in Northern Czechia (like Prague) and Southern Czechia (like Brno) is called Moravia. So, to Another Country, We go! Iceland! It is Locally pronounced Is (like “Niece”) Land, ìsland. Currency is The Icelandic Krona (or Crown), Capitol is Reykjavik (Try and Pronounce that City!). Iceland is known very well for It’s Natural Beauty and Of Course, Beautiful People. Now, the Iceland Letters are even more “Funky” like a “O” that looks like it has a Cross on Top. Icelandic is Very Hard Language to Learn or Pronounce! From My Research, I learned that Iceland is Very Expensive. As In 6,000 Icelandic Króna (or Close to 60 US Dollars) to go to The Blue Lagoon! Yes, Really! 60 Dollars and that is only for The Entrance and a Mud Mask, Not including a Towel, Changing Rooms, or a Drink (which they offer). That was a Blow to My Heart because I wanted to see it! But, I am told that There are Smaller and Less Tourists Hot Springs to go to in Iceland. The Weather in Iceland, which You have to be watchful of can be Very Unpredictable. and, Finally, The Last Country I will talk about, Jamaica. Jamaica is Very Interesting Country once You get past all The Tourist Points of View on This. Some Tourists say You should not Visit Jamaica because of Poverty and Crime, Just be a Little more Careful, that is All. Jamaica, I feel is a Country that Less about The Beach (I mean, It can be!) and More about The Food. Namely, The Jamaican Jerk Chicken, I am told is Spicy but, Worth It. and, Of Course, Jamaican Meat Patties. Think of It like a Jamaican Hamburger, only Better. I feel that This is One of Those Foods that You have to try at a Local Place or with a Local Person. In My Research I found that Jamaican Patties are not Very Expensive in both Jamaican Dollars or US Dollars. By The Way, Speaking of Locals, Do Ask them what kind of Music that They listen to. Sure, They listen to Bob Marley and The Like, but Believe Me, It is Much More than that. Now, Wasn’t that Fun to Learn that Stuff?! See, You can have fun learning about Something! All in All, There is a lot of Fun in Learning and A lot of Learning in Fun.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Have Fun in Learning Geography!

The Christianville Spirit: People and Animals is Distress Rerun

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

May 30th, 2018-TCS # 595

Bonjour, My Readers! That is One of My Favourite Greetings. So, Every Once in a While, A Question or Concern comes up from One of Our Lovely PTLS Family Members. At First, It always makes me think, “Hey, That’s a Good Question! Something that has not been talked about or asked in a while!” Usually, It is Something that Hits Home as well as The Fact that I realize that It is Something that is not discussed as commonly as Other Things like The Common Things of PTLS like Walking, Talking, Potty Training, Special Needs Meeting (ARD Meeting in The United States), Routine, and of course, Eating. This Topic is not a common topic in The PTLS Realm as much as It should be. The “It” I am referring to is People and Animals in Distress and How It bothers us. I briefly mentioned it in a Newsletter that I wrote Earlier This Year called “My Three Biggest Triggers” (Refer to That Newsletter) but, I did not go into that much detail about it. I actually wrote a Newsletter in My History that details it a lot more. I hope that You enjoy it and Learn more from It. 

This Newsletter was written on September 21st of 2011 (Refer to Newsletter 267)

So, This Week I’m going to tell you something that is Personal to me, Something that bothers me. I think I need to write about this because it’ll help you greater understand me. The thing that bothers me is called Humans and Animals in Distress; For Example, People screaming because they’re in danger, about to die, or stuck in something like a capsule or anything. Another Example would be Animals making noises because they’re hurt or being taken. It’s why I don’t see Action or Horror Movies because that stuff just doesn’t interest me. Most of My Life, I’ve felt this way about it; As I describe it now I “feel what Other People are feeling”. If I see Adults, Children, or  a Baby that is crying I feel what they’re feeling and it upsets me. Feeling what Others feel at times to me can become an annoyance. However, it is a blessing because if someone who is Sad talks to me about how they feel, I can relate to them. I think the first time I saw a person in distress I think was watching a show on Nickelodeon called Are You Afraid of The Dark? And this kid had a dream of walking in a graveyard and he fell into a wooden coffin and the coffin closed, he banged on the wood while being buried alive and then, the dream ended. By the way, this show in My Day (being the 90’s) was Rated TV-Y7 and I must have been around that age when I saw it. Another Time was watching the Movie, Hook (Again, a Movie that was in my day) in the beginning when the guy is shoved into the treasure chest and then, he is saying,“Help” and medal things are being dropped in. I should mention that at the time, it was a kids movie. As far as Animals in distress go; I hate watching them be stolen from the owner, or just hearing Animals whine and being killed for food. The worst example was on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Puerto Rico episode where they have a Roast in the forest and Anthony is seen carrying The Animal in a bag, while squirming and making the noise that the animal makes then, later he shoves a spear in it. All in All, Having PTLS makes me very sensitive to how People and Animals feel. 

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Be more Sensitive to how People feel and They’ll appreciate You.    

The Christianville Spirit: 10th Lynee Day Lesson

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

May 23rd, 2018-TCS # 594

Happy Lynee Remembrance Day, My Readers! Okay, so Lynee Remembrance Day was Yesterday but, also continues Today. So, In Case You did not know, Lynee Remembrance Day is a Day that I remember a Great Childhood Friend named Lynee who past away (Refer to “The Untold Story of Lynee” Newsletter in My Christianville Classics List). Anyway, Each Lynee Remembrance Day (or LRD, as I call it) simply known as “Lynee Day”, I post a “In Memory of Lynee Watson” Lesson. What Lesson I learned each Year on Lynee Day because It seems that Every Year I learn a Lesson. So, This is going to be The Lesson of This Year’s Lynee Day. The 10th Lynee Day. You Know, those Times when Things don’t seems to be going Your Way or What You thought something would be, is not. 2018 has not started The Way I wanted it too. On Top of The Plumbing Issue We had and All associated, The Grandma Honey Thing, I have not actually seen Lynee’s Mom since The Beginning of The Year (Christmas Actually), and My Laser Process is still on Pause. In Times of Annoyance or Frustration, I start voicing toward God, My Heavenly Father. I wonder and try to Understand The Ways of God. Low Points lead to Really High Points later. I remember a Sermon that I listened to while Watching The Royal Wedding. Yes, THAT Royal Wedding. Congrats to The American Princess-who’s-not-really-Technically-A-Princess-But, Kind of Is, Meghan Markle. I Loved The Second Party Dress! Anyway, The Person who did The Sermon said Something about God that I understand but, Most People don’t understand. And,  Believe Me, I feel ya, There are Parts of God I don’t Understand. Now, to be Clear, The Word, “God” I feel applies to The Three Abrahamic Religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. I actually Learned that from a TV Show on National Geographic called The Story of God with Morgan Freeman. It Explains Perfectly about God, Heaven, Hell, or of Course, All Religions from Christianity to Buddhism. Now, As I write this, I am trying not to Offend Anyone with What I am going to Say But, I am going to tell you how It processes in My Mind which is Very Literal Mind. So, It may not make so much sense in What I am about to Say because My Mind sees things differently. Symbolism does not always make sense. So, Hang in There with Me!

Now, Some Sections of Christianity see God, The Heavenly Father, in different Ways. Catholicism says that God is Pretty UnMerciful and He will Strike You if He sees You doing ANYTHING UnPure, Even If It is a Little Thing. Baptists see God as Very Judgmental. He Judges You all the Time. Episcopalians, or at Least The Pastor at The Royal Wedding sees God in The Purest Form, Love, which I am going to highlight in a Second and Finally, Non-Denominational believe that God is Cool and You should Serve God. and, Sometimes, They take it Very Literally. Now, That is Something that between Me and God, Heaven and Earth, I really don’t understand. You See, When Us PTLSers are taught about Something, We see it at Face Value. Basically, It means that Everything is Literal to Us. We basically have to be told Told whether It is Literal or Not. Unfortunately, God, Nor The Bible itself is at all, Literal. God is Very Much Symbolic when It comes to His Word or Actions. Now, In My Literal Mind, even though It is Symbolic, I have a Strange Satisfaction in The Part of Revelations where Satan dies in a Fiery Lake. When A Friend of Mine told me that God was Symbolic, It stung a little but, I also knew to be True. Now, Of Course, We can not forget that God is also Very Humorous about Things. So, Humor and Symbolism, does not work well with Someone like Me who is Very Literal. I mean, Okay, I Appreciate His Humor and Sometimes, I know when He is Joking, but Other Times, I don’t know when He is not, if that makes Sense. The Symbolism is probably The Part that Frustrates Me The Most. Because, What I think is a Clear Message about This, is really a Symbolic Message for That. It is just how My Mind is because It is The Way I see It. Now, Back to the Love Thing and This is probably Most Literal Part of God that is so Simple. God is Love and Love is God. Wow, Right? So Simple! Basically, It means that Without God, There is No Love in Any Form, and Without Love, There is No God. Simple as that. That Means as Long as You are Kind and Loving Toward Other People (Yourself included I Am Sure) then, You are Worshipping God, without Even Knowing It. Isn’t that Amazing?! Very Simple. I honestly, can not Imagine a World without Love. I mean, I know Love can be Painful and Complicated, and It really should not be. But, The Most Important Part is that Love is a Wonderful Feeling. Without It, We might as well be Dead.

 All in all, That is This Year’s 10th Lynee Remembrance Day Lesson. Remember to Love Everyone, even if They are a Little Different than You.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Thank You, Lynee for Inspiring Me and Showing Me what Real Love is!

The Christianville Spirit: Mother's Day Reflections

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

May 16th, 2018-TCS # 593

So, Mother’s Day, My Readers. I know, know, It already past but, I want to talk to You about Something. “Let’s Talk” as The Late Joan Rivers said. Boy, She had a Way with Words! So, Mother’s Day, I told you last week that It was My Favourite Holiday when I was a Child and It is My Sort-of Favourite Holiday Now. Well, This Year’s Mother’s Day was Very Different. Now, No It was not Bad per se. But, It was Most Definitely one of those Mother’s Days that Every One has that “Holy Crap-Schnikies What If” kind of Reflecting kind of Mother’s Day. Now, Yes, My Mom and I had Good Mother’s Day, could have been better with My Brother in Town, but, What can You do. We watched the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday (It is basically like Europe’s American Idol only with Groups per Country) and We topped it with Dessert for Dinner (Who would not want that every once and while!). On Mother’s Day Proper, We just hung out and Watched a few Movies. I always thought of Mother’s Day as The Day to Spoil Your Mom, The Day to Make Breakfast (My Brother does The Best Breakfast) along with “MOMosas” as My Brother would call them. Being 2018, This Year has come not as Easy as I had hoped  and At The Same Time, Teaching Us Lessons that We needed to learn or even think about. Now, as a Kid, When You want Your Mommy and Yes, Even Grandma, You just shout, “I Want My Mooommmyy” and She’ll come. Get Your Grandma’s Attention, You would either pound on the Table and Say, “Grandma! Mommmy is giving Me that Yucky Stuff (Vegetables) again!” or Do The Same Thing on The Phone and Your Grandma will take you to Her House and Give You Heaps of Junk Food and Tons of Stuff You do not need. As an Adult, However, It is Harder to even admit that There are Times when You need Your Mother (ahem..Clearing Throat) Mommy. Now, At The Realization of The Emergency that happened with Grandma Honey, which By The Way, I should mention that She’s actually doing really well since The Ordeal, She is Walking more than She pretty much ever has, Mind is Clear, You would swear She was in her 60’s Healthy. Anyway, This Mother’s Day has really made me reflect (and, Spoil My Mom as much as I can) about What would I do, should anything happen to either Grandma Honey or  Even Worse, My Mom. Now, My Mom and Grandma Honey, Lord knows, I Love Them, but, I see them as Two Separate Regions, Two Separate Membranes, Two Separate Thought Bubbles. One over Here and One over There. They both are Moms in Some Way but, Still. Grandmas and Moms are Needed in different ways, whether They realize it or not. Grandmas are needed to Spoil You, Take You for a Treat that May or May Not be Good for You, Take You to Your Favourite Place. Moms on The Other Hand, are There on a Daily Basis, They know You Inside and Out.  So, What happens if You Lose one or both of them? How would I react? Would I be able to function afterwords? I always told both Grandma Honey and My Mom that I would be devastated if I lost them, Most Importantly My Mom. Now, although, My Mom and I already have a System in Place for Should Something Happen to Her, I have Guardianship, so The Next Person to take care of Me, Outside of My Mom, would be My Brother. Now, The Reflection of Mother’s Day that I had made me think that The Membranes of Grandma Honey and My Mom are Separate but, This Reflection has forced me to think about it as One Full Membrane instead of Two. This May sound a bit Morbid but, People lose Loved Ones Every Day, It does not it is a Holiday, A Birthday, or Whatever. It is rather Heartbreaking to think about Losing Someone in Your Life but, that is Life. All in all, It makes me realize how much I truly need My Mom in One Way or another. Even though, I have been working hard on My Independence and My Mom has always been focused on Helping Me be Independent even when I was Little. I still will need her around Every Once and While like My 2 AM Lessons.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Love Your Mom and Grandma with All You Got!

The Christianville Spirit: Mother's Day, My Favourite

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

May 9th, 2018-TCS # 592

Happy Mother’s Day, My Readers! This Sunday is Mother’s Day here in The United States. And, Happy Mother’s Day last week to My PTLS Moms in Spain!

 It seems kinda sooner than I thought that It was. It feels like It should be Later. Perhaps, With Everything that was going on Grandma Honey, I Lost Track a Bit. Yes, It is that Time of Year, A Time to reflect, Love on, and Thank Your Mom! Boy, I’ll Tell You, This Year is definitely a Year to reflect on Having Your Mom. I Love My Mom Very Much! I don’t know What I would Do without Her! Most Times, I Love Her to Pieces but, There are Times, like any Mom, that You are driven a Little Nuts. I am reminded of a Story from My Childhood about My Mom, not driving me nuts, but How I Love Her. Now, as a Child and Present Day, My Dad is not The Best so, I just loved My Mom more. I believe it was a Questionnaire, I think for My 5th Grade Graduation for Me to see Later in Life and to see My Likes and Dislikes along with My Favourite (I like that spelling!) Things including TV Shows, Thing to Do, and Of Course My Favourite Holiday. At The Time, I answered that My Favourite Holiday was Mother’s Day because I Loved My Mom. Now, that is not to Say that I love her less now or that Mother’s Day is not my favorite holiday. I mean, I Love Mother’s Day, not as much My True Favourite Holiday, Christmas. But, Still I think it is funny that I wrote that. Anyway, so onto This Week’s Newsletter! It explains a Question that People always Wonder but, also Love to Wonder. As a Reminder, This Newsletter is a Christianville Classic, So You can check out This One and Many Others, on My Christianville Classics List. This Christianville Classic is called “Why We Have Moms”. Enjoy and Happy Mother’s Day!

This Week, I am going to Rerun a Gold Newsletter that I had Written about Mother’s Day. A Bit of a Background here though, First of All, the Basics, This Newsletter was written on May 15th of 2013 (Refer to Newsletter 351). I’m not sure if I mentioned in The Newsletter below about The Origin but, Before This Newsletter entitled “Why We have Moms”, I had written one about “Why We have Children” so, If You Will, The “Why We Have Moms” was sort of an Extension, A Sequel to The “Why We have Children” Newsletter. (Refer to Newsletter 273; November 2011). Anyway, I hope You know You PTLS Member Moms are Brilliant (I Love that Word!) Moms and My Mom is By Far, The Most Brilliant! Enjoy!

So, As You all know, Sunday was Mother’s Day here in The United States, I say that because Mother’s Day is on a different day in other parts of The World. But, Anyway, Mother’s Day is a very important holiday to Me because of one thing that I am ever grateful for, My Mom, as well as Moms in general. Moms are Awesome! But, Why do we have Moms? Now, I’m sure you are reading this, thinking, “Why do We Have Moms?! What kind of Crazy Question is that?!” and others would wonder and ponder about it. So, I’m going to answer that question, “Why Do We Have Moms?”. Well, Truth is, there are a lot of reason why, but here are MY Reasons Why.

1. They birthed us; through hard labor, sometimes, Hours of it. In My Mom’s Case, A C-section that she felt the whole time (the anesthesia didn’t work!)  
2. They are our Secondary Quilt, Beanie Baby, or Blankie when we are Babies (Because We like to Snuggle)
3. They are “Best Friends” when we don’t have any Real Friends and They always will be, whether you like it or not.
4. In The 90’s (And, Probably still now) They are Our Seat Belts when someone slams on their brakes. Even though We already have our Seat Belt on.
5. They are our Protecter, Guard, and Guard-Rail Fence against Evil, Mean, or Hurtful Forces.
6. (If You Let Her Do This One, You are Lucky) They are Your Matchmaker. As in, walking up to the Prettiest Girl around and saying, “Hey, Check Out My Son, He’s a REALLY Good Catch!” and You always say, “Moooom!”. But, You never know if that girl might be the Girl of Your Dreams!
7. If You have a Bully or Hateful/Hurtful Person in Your Life, “Momma Bear” will come out and it will NOT be Pretty!
8. In My Case, If You have Special Needs, Your Mom will go to all lengths to get you what you need, help you in anyway possible, and be there for you when you need her. Even going through many teary-eyed and bull-headed IEP Meetings!
9. They know what is best for You, Way before You Do.
10. Most Importantly, They are Your Mother and Whether You Like it or Not, They will be the only person besides Your Soulmate that will be by your side Forever!
11. When It comes to Your Dreams, They will be do One (or All) of A Few Things; Be right beside You as You ride through It (like My Laser Hair Removal), Help You in The Middle of It, or Cheer The Loudest for You (Who is That?! Oh, That’s My Mom!) along The Side Lines.
12. In The Moment that You say, “I Do”. She will be There. Most likely in front cheering, following being in The Back, Crying Her Eyes out. (Ohh Mom!)
13. When You Graduate from High School or Any Life Event that is Important to both of You. Yep, She’ll be Crying there too. 
14. They will always be There if You need to have a Heart-to-Heart Talk or Vice Versa, Where They have a Heart-to-Heart with You
15. They will let You go Where ever You want when You are an Adult on Three Conditions. One, It is not Dangerous. Two, It is not a Stupid Decision and, Three, You shall at some point, Come back and Live Near Mom (Or at Least, That is My Own Old-Fashioned Mom) Are You Listening, Michael?!
16. They will be Honest with You. Sometimes more than You want them to. But, Believe Me, You will be Grateful in The End.
17. They will have Many Talks with You. In One of Three Versions; Either a Heart-to-Heart Talk, “Step into My Office”(Sometimes Good and Sometimes Not) , or “A Come-to-Jesus Meeting”.
18. She’ll be there to Pick You Up if You are Down and Cheer when You are Up.
19. In My Case, they are your Road Buddy or Your Chauffeur when you want to go somewhere. By The Way, That is a Condition that Can not be taken advantaged of. 
20. This may sound a bit too Honest, but from a Man’s View, Let’s face it, Your Family, Your House (applying to Guys), and Your Life would be a Mess without Your Mom.
21. No Matter How Young or Old You are, It is Perfectly Okay to say that You need Your Mommy.

 So, Those are My Reason as to “Why We Have Moms”. All in All, My Mom and I have always had this system where I ask her, “Mom, Why do you do this?” and she answers, “It is in The Book of Moms!”.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Cherish Your Mom, She is Your Best Friend!

The Christianville Spirit: Family Emergency in Atlanta

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

May 2nd, 2018-TCS # 591

Cherish The Ones You Love, My Readers! Yes, This is a Different Greeting and Boy, Do I mean It! This is going to be a Rather Difficult Newsletter because It was Something that I had not really planned on Writing nor, Planned for. You Know, There are Times in Life, When It throws you a Big Curveball at You, like a Coach throwing a Baseball at You to Test Your Attention. Sure, You grab that bat and hit it, But, then, You yell “What The Fettuccine was That For?!”. Yes, Life does that sometimes. Also, Sometimes The Catfish in Life, not always a Fake Catfish, nips at Your Fin hard! So, What am I talking about? Well, Here’s an Unplanned Edition to My Grandma Honey themed Newsletters These past Couple Weeks. So, My Grandma Honey, as I have told you, She lives in Atlanta. Easy to say when Things are Planned and are going Right. It is only a 12 Hour Drive, a 2 Hour flight, and an Hour Difference between us, right? At Least, It is not a 15 Hours Drive or a 3 or 4 Hour Difference. Yeah... Well, What happens when There is a Family Emergency and You have to get there, like 2 Hours Ago kind of Thing. Now, Okay, Knowing Grandma Honey is getting, ahem (Clearing Throat) Younger each Year, It is something that We have to start Mentally Preparing for. Now, This Family Emergency was only a Smidge close to “The Big Emergency”, had we not reacted in Time. You See, Last Saturday, My Grandma Honey was doin’ her thing, going to Her Nail Salon when She started to have a Fainting Spell. They were pretty close to either Calling Security or Calling 911. She figured that It was only Temporary, Something that like A Headache, You can just sleep it off. Now, Whenever Grandma Honey has a Health Problem (She is Very Healthy, by the way!), A Health Question, or Just to Show off Her Daughter’s Talents, She calls My Mom. Minding You here, that We live in Dallas.... Texas. But, She does it anyway and Honestly, We thank God for it. So, Sunday comes and She is not much better, therefore, The Lovely Neighbor, Sarah called 911 and My Grandma Honey’s Favorite Firemen (“Her Boys”, as She calls them); The Ones who She sees at her Waffle House and Pays for Their Breakfasts; They came to Save Her! So, Now, Grandma Honey is in The Hospital at This Point. Both My Mom and I are freaking out wondering What on Earth is going on. Grandma Honey along with Doctors and Nurses, where on The Phone with My Mom every couple Hours with Updates. My Mom grew Tired of This Very Quickly. Medical Things and Distance does not Work! So, A Couple Days Later, My Mom gave me The Option of either Staying Here at Home for an Undetermined Amount of Time, I was thinking either a Minimum of 3 Days and Maximum of a Week or Longer, or We just hop in The Car and Drive out there. So, My Mom got home and Both of us literally Packed within an Hour, and were Out The Door. Now, My Anxiety was Sky High, on Top of The Slime Issue that I had the Last Time I went to Atlanta, Literally Two Weeks before, and Sarah took care of that after We got there, and Of Course, That Fear of Assuming The Worst. I mean, My Neighbor had to go out to Tennessee for Her Mom and She ended up out there for 2 Months. I digress. My Mom and I agreed that It was Better for it to be Nothing and Go to Atlanta rather than Something and We felt Stupid for Not Going. 

Now, Of Course, This “Family Emergency” Drive did not come without It’s issues, The Back Window of Our Car messed up and Luckily, Grandma Honey’s Many Connections over The Years, Her “Car Guy”  fixed it for Us. After We got to Atlanta, She was released from The Hospital later that Evening, Again Thank God for That, because We did not think that We would make it for Her Discharge from The Hospital. So, after that, My Mom and I spent a Week helping her recover as well as Trying to Figure out what was wrong with Her. Her Legs Hurts for about Two Years and She was starting to show Dementia-like Behavior, but We (or at least I) just thought It was just Age. After about a Day, We figured out What was wrong. First Off, at The Hospital, They tested her for Literally Everything and Her Heart and others, Came out Perfect, Very Above Average for Her Youngness. It turned out that It was....Wait for It. Extremely LOW Potassium and Lack of Water. Yes, as in Bananas! Bananas are The Most Well-Known Food that has Potassium along with Avocado, Kale, Baked Potato or Sweet Potato, White Beans, and Brussels Sprouts, to name a few. I struggled with Figuring that out in My Head because I could not understand how Something as Small as Potassium or It’s Brother, Sodium (Salt in Regular English) can cause such a Problem, at least compared to Heart or Lungs, which I am sure The Doctors thought it was. No One except My Mom knew that the Issue was Lack of Potassium and Lack of Water. I mean, Her Potassium Level was Dangerously Low, It could have Killed Her had Her Lovely Neighbor, Sarah called 911. So, after The Stresses of Disaster, like The Window of Our Car or The Testing of The Fire Hydrant, Right next to Our Car, We did lighten up a Little Bit. I think The Most Funny Thing that Watching Grandma Honey try to talk to Her Neighbors, Friends, and Family with The Raspy Voice She got from Her Upper GI. It was Pretty Much a Whisper. It got better over Time though. One of The Best Things that We had over This “Family Emergency” Trip was All of The Love and Concern from Everyone including Her Neighbor Friends; Her and My Mom’s High School Friends; Her Waffle House People (including “Her Boys”); Even My own Readers as well as PTLS Family Members around The World! So, with that said, I Thank You all so much, for The Bottom of My Heart, that You reached out for Concerns for My Grandma Honey. It not only Showed us How Much People care for Her, but, Most Importantly, It is Showing Her just How Much She is Loved. In All Honesty, We should all get to Hear How Much we are Loved, by Friends, Family, Neighbors, even Strangers. Truth be Told, Most People have No Idea and Sadly, They end up Dying and All The Love that should be heard when They are Alive, Ends up Flooding when They can’t hear it. Now, Perhaps, They can hear it in Spirit, but Still. This “Family Emergency” Trip has also showed all of Us, Smith Family and otherwise, How We react and deal with such Events. Like I said, Preparing The Big One. I personally am hoping It does not happen anytime soon. By The Way, If You ever see The Video that My Mom took of Grandma Honey walking, when My Mom says “Boobs Out”, that basically is Our Code to Her to mean “Stand Up Straight”. If You want to Help, Keep in Contact with Her if You know Her. Make Sure that She is doin’ Her Thang as well as Taking Her Potassium and Drinking Water as well. Come to Think of It, We all should Take Our Potassium and Check The Levels Every Once and a while. All in All, It is One of Those Hard Life Lessons that You have to learn. Not just Yell at The Coach for It, but Wonder Why He did that.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. When Health throws You Curveballs, Go with It!