The Christianville Spirit: My Three Biggest Triggers

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

April 11th, 2018-TCS # 590

Let’s Talk, My Readers! So, as The Late Joan Rivers would say on Her Show Fashion Police, “Let’s Talk” and This is a “Let’s Talk” Newsletter indeed. It was her Trademark Line on that show when It came to Challenging Talks about Who wore what The Worst to What Event, and trying to criticize that without either Shaming them too much, or Making them feel horrible for Whatever They wore that They paid pretty much a Million Dollars for. I digress. So, Let’s Talk! So, This is going to a rather Challenging Newsletter for Me so Bear with Me. So, Let’s Talk about Two Things, Crazes and Triggers. Yes, That Triggers! So, In case You are not into Pop Culture, The Word, “Trigger” (or “Triggered” to be more precise) is a Common Word among Young People, It basically means “To be Upset at or With Something”. The Best Example I can think is When Patriotic Americans (My Name for “Trump Conservatives”) call those Opposite of Them, “Triggered Liberals” basically, People who are of Libertarian Decent getting upset about Something Political, Trump-related or not. Now, That is My Political Mind speaking, This is what This is NOT about. Anyway, Then, We have to talk about Crazes. Every Generation goes through Some Kind of Craze like Furbies, Different Video Games, Challenges (like The Cinnamon Challenge or The Most Recently, The TidePod Challenge). Now, When I was growing up, It was a Number of Things including Furbies, Geo-Pet (Something like that), and My Least Favorite, A Toy called Nickelodeon Gak) For Me, Just to Hear, See, Speak, or Even Write that Word makes My Stomach Turn. Now, These Days the Craze about town Turned to Slime. Which is like The “G-Word”, We will call it. But, It has come back up in what is Called “Slime-making Videos” on YouTube. It is Easy to make, So I am told. I am also told that Above All Videos on The Internet these Days, It is The Least Negative and Pretty Much The Only Type of Video that does not Play any kind of Message or Politics. So, Back to Triggers, We all have Our Own Triggers (Or Things that Upset Us a lot) , Whether It is Claustrophobia (Tight Spaces); Elevators (Believe Me, that was a Huge Trigger growing up.) I blame Grandma on My Dad’s Side telling me a Story of Her getting stuck in an Elevator. To This Day, I am Okay about it but, I would Rather not be in The Elevator by Myself for Very Long; Fear of Heights, Among Many Others. So, Here’s a Question, I am sure that You are Asking. What are Mine, and What is The Point? So, Mine are Gooey Substances like Gak, Slime, Silly Putty (or Silly Putty Equivalent), Silly String, and Anything that might look like It); Babies Crying (Basically, Something that can not be Controlled); and, Finally, People/Animals in Distress (Basically, People Crying, Being Upset, or Screaming for Help). So, Then, What happens when All Your Triggers occur at The Same Time. 

Now, I noticed that All Three Happened while I was in Atlanta recently. Some Part of Me knew that At Some Point during Whatever Craze is Happening that I would eventually run into It somehow. You can’t get away from Crazes! For Example, Gak (The G-Word), They made it in My Class when I was Younger, Sold It at an Economic Fair back in 4th Grade, and Of Course, The Newest Craze at The Time, “The Nickelodeon Store”. This is the First Trigger I want to talk about. Anyway, so Until a Couple Years ago, Kids only came to visit The Complex where My Grandma Honey lives, until They built a School down the Street from Her House. Today, There are More Kids living in Grandma Honey’s Complex. So, Kids naturally want to be Entrepreneurs, It is The American Way after all. For Some, It is selling Lemonade, and They do that during The Summer, but While I was there, They were Selling Slime. They had The Computer to show the making of it and They set Prices for Each One They made. Seeing This when I arriving, Made My Nerves shoot Way Up. My Stomach was pretty much in Knots the whole time I was there, for Fear that Someone in My Family might buy it, and The Kids may come and Visit with it in Their Hands. Thank God, They did not, but Still. I had a talk with my Grandma Honey about this and she understood. It was just the Anxiety of what might happen that bothered me all weekend. 

The Next Trigger is Babies Crying, or in Distress. I understand that Babies cry, It is what They do. It is Their Language. Not Sure Why We call it “Crying”, But We do. “We were Babies at One Time”, My Grandma Honey says. and, She is right. In Fact, She was once a Baby. It is just amazing how a Human can come out of Another Human! Now, Don’t Get Me Wrong, I don’t Hate Babies. They are Cute and Cuddly, They make funny Noises, They smell Good, and When They are Old Enough, They can Laugh. However, Babies do Cry to get what They need. I don’t like when Babies Cry. Now, If it is something that is Short-Term, like If They Need a Bottle because They are Hungry; They have a Poop in their Diaper or They want to be Held. That is Simple. Just do what They need. However, If Babies are Crying because of Teething, In An Airplane, If Something that can not be done to Stop The Crying. Then, To Me, They are in Distress. When They are in Distress, I feel the need to Help and If They can’t, then I feel Helpless and It gets me all Upset along with Them. The Time at Grandma Honey’s was Okay. Baby Jace was a Quiet Baby. There are Babies that are Quiet like I was, I hardly ever Cried when I was a Baby and Then, There are Those that Cry all The Time, like My Brother when He was a Baby. By The Way, He would not JUST Cry, He would Scream and Cry. When I was Younger, When My Brother would Cry, I would Cry with Him because I felt like How He felt. Now, Even though Baby Jace was a Quiet Baby, I did not know that before hand and It caused My Anxiety to Panic because I knew that a Baby was coming and I did not know What to do or Where to go in The Event that He cried a lot. Considering The Kids with The Slime outside, I had Less Options.

The Third Trigger is People and Animals in Distress. If People are Upset, Crying, Confused (like Dementia), or Animals Whining, It bothers me! Like The Babies, I can not do anything to help them so, I feel Helpless. If I can give The Person a Hug, then It helps me a little, like The Lady at Great Clips. So, For Example, My Aunt Carolee was Angry-Distressed at Something and I did not how to help, so I tried to get My Mind on Something Else. The Problem is I never know when It is going to Happen. 

So, When I was Younger, I did not know how to Handle My Triggers and Other People did not understand me. My Mom knows When I am experiencing These Triggers and She helps me learn how to Handle Them. These and Other Triggers are common in us PTLSers, It just takes others to understand us. All in all, Having Triggers is not Fun but, Once You learn to Manage Them, It becomes Easier.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Triggers are a Part of Life. Learn How to Manage Them. 

The Christianville Spirit: Conversations at Great Clips Story

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

April 4th, 2018-TCS # 589

Ciao, My Readers! That is a Greeting among Friends in Italian. So, My Grandma Honey; There is Something You should know about Her. If You ever were to Meet Her, Talk to Her, Hang Out with Her, You would be Friends faster than You could say “Who is This Woman?!” My Grandma Honey, Miss Jan, The GA-Honey! That’s Who! As Far as You are concerned, She is Royalty! Okay, so She may not be Literally Royalty but, In Our Family, She pretty much is! I can just imagine saying in a Deep Royal Voice “Your Majesty Grandma Honey”. If You wanted to erase The Awkward Silence of Standing near Someone, She’s Your Gal. Need to be Introduced to Someone that You may like, Count Her in as Your Wingman err... Wing-Woman! In our Family, If She ever flew to see us and Many Times in Her Life, She has, You are Guaranteed that She will come out into The Arrivals Area with a New Friend (or in Some Cases, New Friends) that She met on The Airplane. She will not JUST be Friends with Her Neighboring Seat Buddies, but Those in The Seats in Front, Back and Across! It really is a Spectacle to Behold! Of Course, It does rub off on Us when The Opportunity presents Itself. Take The Story that I am about to Tell You. This is a Prime Example of Grandma Honey’s Wing-Woman-ship. So, Me and My Mom went to Atlanta for Grandma Honey’s 80th Birthday, It was a Big Deal! On Top of The Party that We had for Her at Her House; She also got to meet her First Great-Grandson, Jace. 6 Generations that She has seen, Isn’t that amazing?! Anyway, It was while We were in Atlanta for This, that This Story occurred. So, Grandma Honey figured that while We were waiting for My Uncle Bruce to come over, that She needed to get her Hair cut. I figured that My Hair was Long too and My Mom was probably going to cut it once We got Home, so Why not do it while We were in Atlanta. To Great Clips, We go! Now, The Thing about Great Clips is that You have to either Show up and Wait (Or Not, Depending on The Day), Call Ahead, or Reserve Your Place Online. Considering that It was a Friday Afternoon and Atlanta’s Spring Break was getting ready to start, Grandma Honey called ahead to let them know that We were coming. The Second Thing, You should know is that Things go One of Two Ways at a Hair Cut Place, either You meet a Ton of People that like to Talk or Those that Like to be Alone with Their Thoughts and Get their Hair Cut. This was not One of Those Days. So, We arrived and It was rather Busy. Only Two People cutting Hair and quite a Few People sitting and waiting, most of Them were Those that had Set Up Online to come. Or, at least, that is what I guess. So, First, comes a Family that We did not really talk to. one of those Come In-Cut, and Go on. It was not until after I got My Haircut that things started Happening. It was going to be Me getting Hair Cut, then My Mom, and then Grandma Honey. I told a Very Friendly Great Clips Lady that We were There to celebrate Grandma Honey’s 80th Birthday. “You see the Red Head over There, It’s Her!” Anyway, after I sat down after My Cut, I moved from Sitting looking at The Door over to Where Grandma Honey was sitting. In Walked This Lady that seemed a bit upset at Something. She had Reserved Online but, She had Showed up Late and They told her that She would have to wait another Hour to 30 Minutes until She could get her Hair Cut. She got More Frustrated, not wanting to Wait 30 Minutes or more. I decided that I should move over to Talk to Her, because There was My Seat, a Wall separating, Grandma Honey, an Empty Chair, and The Lady. So, That is where I sat. I said Hello and at that Moment, She pretty much cracked. It turned out that Her Friend’s Husband had Killed Himself and She had just Found Out on The Way over, therefore causing Her to be Late. So, My Grandma Honey being The Wonderful Wing-Woman that She is, gave her Her Hair Cut Position and Grandma Honey would wait until She was Done. Before The Lady went to get her Hair Cut and I asked her if It would be Okay if I hugged Her and I did it. As She was Leaving, after She got her Hair Cut, She thanked Me. I helped her in What was a Horrible Day for Her and Was going to be a Horrible Atlanta Spring Break. See? Grandma Honey’s Wing-Woman-Ship rubbing off on Me. After I sat back down, In Came a Guy with a Polo Shirt with an Atlanta Braves “A” on it. I wondered in My Mind, does He work with The Braves, The Ballpark, or Just an Atlanta Braves Fan with a Nice Shirt on? So, My Grandma Honey worked her magic and told him about Me and, about PTLS. She pretty much Introduced me to Him, and I asked if He worked at The Ballpark or Just a Fan. It was Opening Weekend for The Atlanta Braves after All. Anyway, I told him a little bit about PTLS, We talked about Geography, the Atlanta Region, and Of Course, Sports among Many other Things. After I was Done talking to Him, I moved back to The First Chair I sat in on The other side of The Wall. Then, Came a Man in a Wheelchair sporting a Sticker. I tried Very Hard not to stare while I was trying to see The Sticker. Again, My Questions came in My Head like Why is He is in a Wheelchair?, He looks like a Veteran. So, that was My Lead-On. I asked Him after saying Hello saying, “Are You a Veteran?” It turned out that He was not but, He worked with Veterans. It turns out that He was a Producer of a Documentary called Love after War, It is about Couples that are “Wounded Warriors” trying to figure out Intimate Relationships after One of Them coming back from War. It turns that He is a Relationship and Sex Therapist, His Name was Dr. Mitch. The Reason which He was in a Wheelchair and Therefor Understanding about Veteran and Relationships is because He had a Spinal Cord Injury. Of Course, At This Point, My Mom is done with Her Haircut and Grandma Honey is getting her Haircut now. My Mom, of course, Tells “Mitch” about Potocki-Lupski Syndrome (PTLS) as well as discussing that Maybe His Director Friend would be Interested in a Documentary about PTLS. He was Very Curious because Adults with PTLS and Their View of Being in a Relationship. He asked how I deal with Relationships. I told Him briefly about My “Dream Girl” before I came up with Bridgett, My “Woman of My Dreams”. He asked what details I had about Her and If I had had enough Details like Personality to make her fit. I did not get to tell him The Original Part of The Story that lead to that. After Talking to Him for a while, It was Time for Him to get his Hair Cut. My Mom and Him exchanged Contact Information to continue their conversation. Then, Finally came a Nicely Dressed Man and asking if My Grandma Honey was going to Some Local Event, I asked if He was The Mayor and He said “Something like that”. I later found out that It was The Mayor, The Mayor of Sandy Springs, The City that Grandma Honey lives in. 

After that, It was Time to go, head back to Grandma Honey’s House to meet with Uncle Bruce. This Birthday Event of Grandma Honey’s was certainly Rememberable, but A Story that will go on about My Trip to Atlanta was The “Conversations at Great Clips” Story! All in all, If You give it a Chance and Beat The Awkward Silence, You can really meet Very Interesting People!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Everyone has an Interesting Story. Share Yours with People.

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

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Christianville Spirit: Lessons with Kidneys

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

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

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

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

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

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

The Christianville Spirit: PTLS on The Red Carpet Rerun

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience 

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Christianville Spirit: The Best Of PTLS Awareness Day

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilence

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

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

Unseen Newsletter about PTLS (2015)

The History of PTLS Awareness Day (2014)

My Love For PTLS (2013)

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

So, This Newsletter is going to first sound Not PTLS Related but, Believe Me, It is! So, It is A Little Known Tradition in Most Countries, on Their Main National Holiday like Fourth of July (Independence Day) in The United States; Canada Day in Canada; Constitution Day in Norway; or Australia Day in Australia, They have What is called a “Citizenship Ceremony” where People become New Citizens of a Country. Well, I would like to think that PTLS Day is sort of The Same Thing. Now, Yes, PTLS Day is a Celebration of People of PTLS and Their Families, but, What about New PTLS Family Members that have been Recently admitted to What I call “The PTLS Union of Families”? I would imagine it would be like a Train passing by with a Bunch of People (To You, at least for the moment; Strangers) that have Children, Young Adults, or Adults in General that look like You or Your Child and One Person grabs you and says “Welcome to The PTLS Family! Let’s Get You Admitted and Soak You In The Family!” Some Newly Admitted Family Members are Ready for It! Just rip that Bandaid off and Jump In! Others though, They are pulled on The Train and They are Lost, Panicked, and Just not Sure (Which is Understandable!). Well, I feel like PTLS Day is a Day where We stop at a Station (or at least Should), Start Admitting New Members, and Welcoming Them with Open Arms and Take them along in Their Own Pace. Some like a Slow Pace of Learning Everything about PTLS and Some hop on and say “Give Me All You Got!”. Of Course, that is Explaining The Average PTLS Family Members. The Rest, They like to just Get all The Information and Hop off The Train and Go on Their Marry Way. Although, They are Part of The PTLS Family and They are Welcome on The Train at Any Time. Anyway, Whether You are New or Just Need a Re-Fresher, or Just need Hope for a Moment,   

 I am going to Rerun one of My Gold Newsletters of The Most Common Questions or Concerns about PTLS. (This is  The Best PTLS Day Newsletter) So, Take These Questions and Answers in Whatever Pace You like. You can read the Whole Newsletter Now or Read some of It now and Some later. I do have to Edit it a little bit because This Newsletter was originally written in May of 2015 (Refer to Newsletter 450). Enjoy and Happy PTLS Day!

So, as The Late Joan Rivers would say, “Let’s Talk” and This is a “Let’s Talk” Newsletter indeed. (Joan Rivers passed away in May of 2015 and I figured that I would honor her) As My Veterans know, I often cover the Same Thing about PTLS In Introduction but, As I say, There are always New PTLS Family Members that are “Admitted into The Union” per se. But, I am sure that There are Those who have been reading a while, or Started Reading, and are Curious about PTLS. You See, When A New PTLS Member is Admitted into The PTLS Family, To be fair, They are a Bit Scared when They come in and See what PTLS has to offer. They worry about Many Simple Things that Most People would not; PTLS is Unique! Haven’t You Heard? (breaking out in Song) Da, Da, Da Bird, Bird, Bird, Bird Is The Word! Just Kidding about The Bird, It is Family Guy Reference. Aaaannnnnyway, So I, The Caring Guy that I am, is going to try and Help both New Members and Refresh for The Standing PTLS Members. So, I’m going to take this in sort of a Political Candidate/Interview kind of Way. So, Here We Go.

First Off, I would to like Welcome You to The PTLS Family! My Name is Christian Smith-Centeno (also known as “Christian Centeno”) I am currently 30 Years Old and I have PTLS. I usually say that statement Very Proudly. Even though I edit it to My Age, Every Year, I still say it Proudly. I have had PTLS my Whole Life, Diagnosed at 3 Years Old. I was 4th In The World and 1st in The United States and through the week long research study (done Way Back then) but, that is just a Title! So, now that We have done the Introduction, Time to go for The Deep Stuff! By The Way, New Members, Please Take Your Time reading this, You don’t have to Digest It at all at Once! 

So, With New Members, They have Different Priorities when It comes to The First Question, We’ll call it, The Leap of Faith. Here We Go! 

Are You Okay?/Is My Child Going to be Okay?/ Are You at Least “Close to Typical”?: To Answer That Question. Yes, I am Okay. I am a Happy Person and Most PTLSers are Generally Happy. In Fact, They say that PTLSers have “The Happy Gene”. Second Question, This and VERY Important! Yes, Your Child Will Be Okay (Capitalized for Emphasis). Am I at least “Close to Typical”? As Good as I can be. Sometimes, It is not Easy to “Try to be Typical” because I don’t want to stand out TOO Much! I see Myself as “Unique”, In Other Words, I am Me, Simply Put.

What on Earth is PTLS?!

PTLS is shorthand of “Potocki-Lupski Syndrome”. Potocki-Lupski Syndrome is named after Two Doctors in Houston named Doctor Potocki and Doctor Lupski. and While we are at it, PTLS is NOT a Disease (It is a Disorder), It just happens. It is also worth Mentioning that Potocki-Lupski Syndrome has Autism-like Behaviors.

Oh My Lord, What do I do about Potty Training?! 

Okay, now This is My Bias Story, So it may or may not work for You. One Day, It was Raining and My Mom had a Frustrating Moment and Told Me that “The Baby down the Street needed My Diapers and I could not go in My Pants” Long Story, Short. I looked at Her like She had Two Heads and I eventually went to The Bathroom, by My Self. Needless to Say, Us PTLSers are Very Stubborn! 

Important Stuff

The Stuff I feel that You should know about us. That I consider to be Important. We are Detail Oriented (All about The Details!), Routine Oriented (as in Getting Up at Same Time and Going to Bed at The Same Time, Predictability in Life helps us focus!), We do get Overwhelmed with Too Much Noise or Activity. In Other Words, VERY Sensitive Hearing when We are Young, It does go down as We get Older. We are a bit OCD and Obsessive about Things. and, Most Importantly, We are Rule Followers, If You tell us a Rule that We will Follow It and Expect Others to Follow It. We (or at least, Myself) have an Issue with Gooey Textures or Things that Look like that. 

Eating

 That They will do at Their Own Time. I personally Ate nothing but Macaroni and Cheese, Yogurt, Apple Sauce, and Pasta most of My Childhood. PTLSers these Days, Love Fruit and Veggies. More so Fruit. So, The Next Part gets a bit split in The PTLS Family with Different View Points.

Walking and Talking (Plain and Simple) 

Usually, Anywhere around 3 Years Old, They start Walking (some earlier) and, around 4 to 5 Years Old is when PTLSers start trying to Talk (Some Earlier, Some Later, and Some Non-Verbal). It should have a Disclaimer here that, PTLSers have a range, so Those Stats are a Give or Take. But, One Thing that I want you to Know in This Segment is that PTLSers are Smarter than You realize. They soak in Everything and In Turn, They end up Mimicking What They are around. 

Schooling. Oh The Complication:

So, This is My View, so Do with It What You Will. Throughout School, My Mom made sure that I had a Good Mix of Special Ed and Regular Classrooms. The Special Ed was more for The Subjects that I needed extra help in, like Math, Writing (With an Aide), English (With An Aide), and finally Reading. Now I should mention that We are Very Literal. So, Spacial Learning is The Best Way to Go. Now, I did Regular Classrooms like Geography (With An Aide), Environmental Science (With An Aide), Aqua Science, and Art (Both Regular and Sculpture Art, without an Aide). I Will mention that Back in High School, I did a little “Job Crew” Class and I got to do something, I referred to as “Parking Lot Duty”. My Job was to Check the Big Staff Parking Lot (about 100 or so Cars) and Make Sure that Everyone was parked in the right place. I had to write The License Plate Number if They weren’t. I had 100% Compliance that Year. 

College

 So This One is a bit hard for Me. I really don’t like People who are Not Understanding asking Me if I go to College. Disclaimer Here, Your Child CAN go to College if They are Ready or Want to. Me, Personally, I did not go to College because My Math and Writing Levels were not at College Level. However, In A Way, I attempted a College Class. See, I tried to take one Online. I took a “Globalization Class” because after all, I am interested in how Geography, History, and Politics all mix together. As Crazy as it sounds, I used to think that History was boring, It had Nothing to do with Geography. Boy, Was I wrong! But, Anyway, in Said Class, I had Read from a Text Book (on The Computer), Checked out Websites They told me to Check Out, Watch The Video Lecture, and then A Knowledge Check Test. I tried One Week of It and It was a Bit Overwhelming in learning about Things that I probably should not. I did passed Two Knowledge Checks without Reading the Whole Chapter It told me to read. 

Dating. Oh Boy!

 Okay, Those of You who are wondering if I have Ever Dated, The Answer is Yes. I have had Two Girlfriends and I have been to a Homecoming Dance. By The Way, Homecoming in Texas is The Autumn Equivalent to Prom. Now, as For Future Dating, I plan on Finding The Woman of My Dreams, Bridgett (I am believing that is Her Name) and Dating Her, and Eventually, Marrying Her. 

Do I Plan on Getting Married?! 

Now, This is Not a Common Question of New PTLS Members, but I know it is One of Those Curious Questions that People are a bit afraid to ask. The Answer to This Question is Yes. Well, I think I pretty much answered that one at The End of The Last Question I answered, funny how that happens. Now, Although I do plan on Getting Married, I pray that it goes off really well. The Thought of It, I have to say, makes me Anxious. As For The Other Stuff, I do plan on that too and I hope that My Texture Issues will not flip on me. And, Final Question

 The Future

 Hard to Answer but, I know I plan on Getting Married, I plan on a Job that has Structure and Predictability in a Field that I Love, and Probably Most of All, I plan on Traveling The World to see It’s Great Beauty. All in all, With all The Questions I answered, I want you to know Most Importantly that with All The Craziness of Figuring Out PTLS along “The PTLS Highway” (Refer to “PTLS Highway” Newsletter), I Want You to know that Your Child WILL be Okay!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. The Spirit that Brings Awareness? That is The Christianville Spirit.

(Credit to Friend, Sherry Seibold)

The Christianville Spirit: The Truth about Expatriation Remixed

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

February 21st, 2018-TCS # 584

Hola, My Readers! This is a Special Greeting for a Special Newsletter. So, Expatriation. It is a Very Interesting Topic to Me. Expatriation is also known to a lot of People as Expatting. Basically, It means that You are a Citizen of a Home Country, be it an American, Englishman, Australian, or Whatever Your Home Country is and then, Moving to Another Country for Whatever Reason (There are Many) that I am going to explain in a Minute. People expat to Another Country for Anywhere from a Year, A Couple Years, and Yes, Some even Expat for a Lifetime. Life is an Adventure to Them. In Fact, Some People don’t just Expat to One Country, Sometimes, It’s Two or Even Three Countries before They Repatriate (or “Repat”) Repatriate, basically means that You come back to Your Home Country. I am told that it is Much Harder to Repat than to Expat. So, Why do People Expat? Many Reasons, Some of Them I list in The Newsletter that I am going to Rerun. I List them as “Needing Some Adventure or Something Different in Life, Learning about Another Culture and Soaking in that Culture, Because You may not be happy with The Way your Home Country is going, Retirement, or Most Commonly, Because Your Spouse (Husband or Wife) getting a New Job Opportunity in a New Country” Additionally, Some People expat to Retire or There are Tired to “The Box Life” of America. So, Question Time! How do I know so much about Expatting?and Why is This Newsletter so Special? Well, for One, I have had Two Friends of Mine, Monica and Heidi expat from The United States. Monica, a Former-Student and Gal-pal of My Mom, expatted to Stockholm, Sweden for 4 Years. She has since Repatriated back to The United States. Heidi, a Friend, I met through Monica (Because They are Walking Buddies in Stockholm), She actually Expatted Twice, Once to France and Second to Stockholm. She actually did both Expatriation and Repatriation twice. The Other Reason I know so much about Expatting is that Every Once and a While, I research People Expatting to Various Countries by Reading some of Their Blogs. Yes, Believe it or not, There are People who have “Expat Blogs” that really give you a sense of Expatting (and, sometimes Repatting) to Other Countries. Typically, I find them via a Site called Expatsblog.com. That Site is basically a Huge Directory of Expat Blogs literally All over The World. Basically, You go to The Site and Click “Expat Blogs” and Select from The List of Countries that have People expatting, Pick a Country, What type of Expat (American or Otherwise), and Happy Reading of Countries! Ones that I found Interesting was The Following, 

1. A Blog of An Adventurous Couple from Washington DC in Search of Wild Adventure and Something Different than as The Writer refers to as “The Box Life”. They expatted to Thailand. (https://www.tielandtothailand.com/thoughts-before-i-quit-m…/) Their Blog is called “From Tieland to Thailand”
2. A Blog about Two Formerly-Hard Working People who Expatted from Florida to Yucatan, Mexico. The Writer refers to Himself as “Q-Roo Paul”. (www.qroo.us)
3. For Something Really Different. A Blog of a Couple from Dallas, Expatting Temporarily to Haiti. If You want a Taste of That, Check It Out. 

So, Then that brings me to the Specialness of This Double Newsletter. My Former Neighbors down the Street are Expatting and Repatting at The Same Time. Shelagh (an American) is Expatting and Fernando (A Mexican) is Repatting. Their Reason is to Retire in a Beautiful Town called Merida, Mexico. We will miss them terribly. But, I hope that They have a Great Time living down there and to come back to Dallas to visit soon! So, This Rerun Newsletter is for You and For People interested around Expatting!

This Newsletter was written on February 1st of 2017 (Refer to Newsletter 531)

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

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

The Christianville Spirit: An Unconventional Love Story

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

February 14th, 2018-TCS # 583

Happy Valentine’s Day, My Readers! Today is The Day of Love! Okay, so Not Everyone calls Valentine’s Day, “The Day of Love”, although It really should be referred to as that. I would imagine that It would make Those People who don’t believe in Valentine’s Day feel loved, because They feel that Valentine’s Day is only about Couples. Let Me Tell You, that is Further from The Truth!

So, After 11 Years of Writing The Christianville Spirit, I have written some Really Good Newsletters in The Topic of Love during Valentine’s Day. These are Newsletters of Mine that I feel deserve The Gold Metal (Get It? The Olympics!) for Valentine’s Day and The Day of Love Newsletters in My Valentine’s Day Newsletter Roster. So, I am going to Help You enjoy Valentine’s Day, in whatever Mood You may be in or You Think of Valentine’s Day in One Way or Another. It was Very Hard for Me to Choose Which were The Best of The Best in My 11 Years of Writing, but These are The Gold Ones! 

The Gold Valentine’s Day Newsletters go by Title and Year so that They are Easy to find!

Destiny in The Making (2015) 

In Search of Bridgett (2014)

 Infectious: A Love Story (2012)

 Different Kinds of Love (2010)

You are Loved This Valentine’s Day (2009)

Now, Don’t Worry, I am not going leave you out of The Mushiness, Non-Believers. You may call This Day, Single’s Awareness Day or “Day of Evil” according to a PTLS Family Member I knew. Well, What if You believe in Love but, Aren’t feeling it This Year? I feel like I am Ted Mosby of The TV Show How I Met Your Mother right before He meets The Mother. You believe in Love with All Your Heart but, You are Ready for Your “Person”, quoting Christina Yang of Grey’s Anatomy, to Come into Your Life. You want to see that Kind of Love! Anyway, so This is an Unconventional Love Story that pertains to that, at least until I meet Her. 

So, My Dog, Paco. You have heard briefly about Him from Time to Time, but I never told You the Actual Story. Probably because, for One, It did not turn out that way I thought it would and Two, Paco was Intended to be My Brother’s Dog and for The sake of My Brother’s Feelings, I did not want to boast about it. But, It seems that Paco and I have bonded. So, First Off, Paco is a Boy Dog, We have always avoided having a Boy Dog, what with The Raising of The Leg, Humping, and The (Clearing Throat) Oscar Meyer Weiner of It all. People that have Boy Dogs will know exactly what I mean. So, My Mom has always gotten Our Family Girl Dogs. Well, My Mom’s High School Friend, Barb, was at a Flea Market in a Town called Canton, about an Hour East of Dallas. She was walking through The Place and Discovered This Guy giving away Puppies. Well, Said Guy was not a Very Nice Guy giving away These Puppies! Barb saw Literally the Cutest Brindle Boy Dog and She had to have Him. She tried to get More than just Him because The Seller was commenting to another person saying “They’d Make Great Bait Dogs!” (Yes, Really He said that in the Open!). Barb was like “Let Me have Them” and Sadly, She only got The Brindle Boy. It happened to be at The Time that Michael, My Brother, saw a Brindle dog and wanted it but, The Guy that had him decided to keep Him

  So, Barb called up My Mom and told her to come over to Check Out The Brindle Boy Dog who was like 4 Months Old at The Time and Not Potty Trained. My Mom thought, “Well, We can take The Dog up to Colorado for Michael”. The Thing was that We were not going to Colorado for Two Weeks, So We cared for This Boy Dog who Barb referred to as “Baby Boy”. At First, Between My Mom and I, We were Very Wary about having a Un-Potty Trained Boy Dog in Our House. Now, Bearing in Mind that We had Potty Trained Dogs that We have had before, so It was Nothing New but, This Boy Dog was Harder to Potty Train because He is a Rather Stubborn Dog. Through Those Two Weeks, That Boy Dog really tested My Texture Issue Limits with His Pooping and Peeing on Training Pads and Me having to clean it up and throw it away. A lot of It I had to do while My Mom was at Work. I tried Very Hard not to Get to Close to Him because for All I knew, He was going to Michael’s House and It would hurt more letting him go. So, After Two Weeks of Trying to Potty Train Him, he still was not Trained yet but, We put Him in his Crate and Got on The Road. We found after about an Hour of Driving that He would rather be in The Crate with The Door open so He could freely come to See us and Sleep in The Crate. Now, Barb started training Him before We had him with Crate Training. Now, I have not had Great Experiences traveling with Dogs, but I have to say that This Boy Dog was The Best Traveller! He was Quiet, Did not Bark too much (although Sadie Good-Lord was in the Process of teaching him to Bark), and He did not bother us that much. So, After We got to Michael’s House and The Boy Dog “Baby Boy” to Our Surprise, He knew exactly where His House was before We had even been up to See It. He is a Very Smart Dog! Now, I will tell you, It did sting a little bit along The Way up there to know that This Boy Dog was going to be My Brother’s because although I did not admit, It was Hard not to Bond with Him, even though I did not want him because He was My Brothers and I did not want to deal with Anymore Potty Training. Well, Michael wanted to keep him but, His Roommate did not want him. Michael kept saying He thought there might be a No Dog Rule at His Place but, yet allowed Nicole’s Small Dog and Zack’s Dog to come over all the time, but Why not Michael? He deserved a Dog! After a Few Days at Michael’s, We left “Baby Boy” at Michael’s because He was Michael’s Dog. We let My Brother name The Boy Dog. He first started with “Grandpa” (as in, “Let’s Take Grandpa for a Walk”); Nicole said No. My Brother’s Humor! “Grandpa Banjo” (From the Nintendo 64 Video Game, Banjo-Kazooie); Nope! “Banjo”. Well, that worked for a While, until He responded with a sound like The Word, “Taco” and Then Came the Name “Paco”.

 Long Story Short, The Roommate got Very Upset about The Dog being there and Michael being Nice said He would be with Him for 2 Weeks, 2 Weeks went up, and then, My Mom and Michael drove halfway to Kansas and Michael sadly gave Paco back to us. This is Where I start to say, No! This is not Fair for My Brother! He deserves a Dog! Of Course, I was still Wary about having to Potty Train Him and then, getting attached to Him. Well, Paco came back and He was happy to be with Us again. We told My Brother that We would meet him again and Exchange Paco back later, but Low and Behold, Me and Paco got attached to Each other and I grew more and more attached to Him as He did to Me. The Dog picks The Person, NOT The Other Way around, Folks! After a while, after I got used to Him being around and caring for Him, finally Potty Training Him, I got less and less of wanting to send him back to My Brother. I learned Paco’s Ways and He learned Mine. I like to say that He is a “PTLS Dog” because of Many Things including needing to be told what is going on, He hops in The Yard like a Gazelle, He runs around without a Purpose getting Excited but, Not knowing What it is that He is getting excited about. Because He is an Excellent Traveller, We take him with us on Our Trips, among them, We took him with us to Atlanta to see Grandma Honey and Of Course, for Christmas, We took All 3 Dogs (Paco included) to Colorado and Bringing Him back This Time! He is Very Smart Dog! On The Trip to Atlanta, He knew where Our Hotel Room was the second time We walked Him, He knew where Grandma Honey’s House was, Where Uncle Bruce’s House was, and Yes, Our House included. Is He still stubborn? Yep, about as Stubborn as I am. Do I still talk to Paco about Events of The Day like PTLSers need to have? Yes, I do. I tell Him what’s going on and other things as well. I call them “Pac’ Talks”. I Love My Boy Dog! and, Yes, He is still cute as Ever! It took a Long Time to admit to Myself, My Mom, and My Brother that I was growing attached to Paco. So, to be Fair, Michael and I share Parenting this Boy Dog, and We both love him a lot. All in all, This Valentine’s Day, Know that You are loved!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Love the One  You are with even if They have Four Legs!