Building Rapport

As the oldest of five children, and a span of only eight years difference between us all, it is rare that we hear any charming, stories about our childhood, that start of with “When you were three did the sweetest/cutest/adorable thing…”, but rather most stories that were even remembered by my mom were about things like the time we flushed a diaper down the toilet, causing it to back up and flood the bathroom or how we decided to dig a hole in the backyard to make a swimming pool, or how my sister was rushed to the hospital on becoming ill due to a good ole fashioned water drinking contest. As my mother likes to tell us, the rest was pretty much a blur. There is this one story however, that she remembers and shares with me every Christmastime, that goes something like this…

When I was around three or four (age is of no consequence or importance in stories told by mom, as she never can remember them), I was suffering from extreme sensory overload one Christmas Eve, due to the fact that to accommodate our big extended family, Christmas ran several days. My mom kept insisting that I go to sleep, but I simply wouldn’t. Apparently, when she came into my room for the final time, we had a conversation that went something like this.

MamaSquare: “SquareGirl, you need to go to sleep.”
SG: “ I don’t want to go to sleep, I’m not sleepy.”
MS: “Well you need to go to sleep so that it will be Christmas”
SG: “When’s Christmas?”
MS: “Christmas is tomorrow”
SG: “What’s tomorrow?”
MS: “Well, It’s when you go to sleep…”
SG: “I don’t want to go to sleep. I’m not sleepy.”

And so the conversation went and apparently I eventually went to sleep because the next day, while we were opening presents, I looked up during the middle of all the mayhem and announced “It’s tomorrow!”

Of all the stories my mom could’ve chosen to remember, I am quite glad that she chose this one, as it is a constant reminder of how more abstract concepts about time such as “later”, “tomorrow” and “next time” can be taught and reinforced. It also reminds me how important it is to honor these phrases that are all too often thrown out without follow through in order to gain rapport. While I am going to be honest and say that I am not always perfect about this with the adult friends in my life, I make every effort to follow through when I tell a child I work with “next time I’ll bring you…”, “Wait a minute and I’ll…”, “tomorrow we are going to…”, “later you will get to…”. And because I honor my commitments to all of my little friends, I find that I build, a really important thing that often goes unmentioned in the training manuals and books, called rapport. Rapport doesn’t happen overnight, but I have found that the more I make promises of doing something at a future time and follow up, the more rapport I gain (imagine that!). The added value of building rapport is that you through rapport are also teaching more abstract concepts such as time, and you never know when one of your little students is going to look up at you to let you know that "it’s tomorrow."

Creative pursuits

When I first began private work in the field of autism over twelve years ago, things were much different than they are now. At the time I was working as an ABA therapist for some in-home programs and I would often take my little friends that I worked with on outings, which is something that would never happen today. One of all of my little friend’s favorite outings was to go to my parent’s house, as they owned this very big, very old Victorian house that was fun to explore. We also had a golden retriever, very creatively named “Goldie”, who like all dogs was very special, but the most unique thing about her was her intuitive calmness around small children and that even children who were typically afraid of dogs, loved Goldie. Of course the fact that she had been hit by a car THREE TIMES after jumping off our balcony to chase one of my parents cars when they left the house, helped mellow her out a lot, but she always had a way with children, as well as small dogs and cats…small creatures always loved Goldie. Three years after I had moved and had stopped working with my little friend Jamie, he called my parents house and when my mom answered, he asked her if Goldie was there. Goldie made quite an impression, especially on children.

The day after taking another one of my friends, Aaron to meet Goldie for the first time, he began to ask me about when we were going to see Goldie, and our conversation went almost exactly like this (it’s been a while, but it is always one I remember as it made me laugh so)

A: “SquareGirl, are you going to take me to your mom’s house again to see Goldie? Are we going to see Goldie again? At your mom's house? Will you take me to see Goldie?”
SG: “Yes, Aaron, I’ll take you to my mom’s to see Goldie again.”
A: “ SquareGirl, will you take me to see Goldie? Are you going to take me to your mom’s to see Goldie?”
SG: “Yes, Aaron, I will take you again to see Goldie, I promise”
A: “SquareGirl…Are you going to take me to see Goldie again at your mom’s house?”
SG: “Yes Aaron, but you can’t ask me that anymore. You asked me too many times, so I will take you, but you have to stop asking me.”

After about 2 minutes during which my compliant little Aaron refrained from asking me about Goldie, and I thought I had succeeded in stopping his perseverative questioning, he looked up and me and asked

A: “SquareGirl? I can’t ask you anymore if you are going to take me to see Goldie? I asked you to many times? I can’t ask if you are going to take me to your mom’s house to see Goldie? I can’t ask you anymore?”

I had to laugh. Sometimes there really is no right answer.

Convenience

Today I needed to make ONE copy and as I am often in the field rather than in the office, I had to swing by Kinko's to make this copy. Now Kinko's copy machines doesn't take any old currency, like say money, but rather make you purchase a card and put a minimum of a dollar on it in order to make copies. Today as I made my ONE copy, I realized those people at Kinko's are genius.
I had already lost at least five of these cards.

Friends and Relatives

My 24 year old brother’s favorite running joke is how old I getting that is why it I am always a few steps behind when it comes to pop culture and the news. Today when I saw him, he asked me if I heard about Rumsfeld’s response to the financial “breaking point” of the army in Iraq. No, but I just learned that a snake and a rat are friends. “You mean the snake and the hamster at the Tokyo Zoo? Yeah, I know, it’s been in the news for months.” Oh. So as he told to me about some alleged breaking point and something this Rumsfeld guy was saying, I couldn’t really pay too much attention, as I continued to perseverate on the fact that a snake and a hamster, who was supposed to be the snakes FOOD, were just hanging out peacefully together, being best friends and all…

I mean, I think they are trying to tell us something.

I’m sure my brother’s story was quite important as well, but I'm not sure how, as I really wasn't listening very well being that was probably completely unrelated to the message of the hamster and the snake.

Because I get to have conversations like this...

When people find out that I work with children diagnosed on the spectrum, they often say things like “Wow! I could never do that, it must be hard!”…well, not really actually. I mean it USED to be hard, back when I thought it was hard, but now that I realize it is extremely rewarding, it is….extremely rewarding and satisfying and entertaining and really, really gratifying. And, while I know this may be corny, I actually love the fact that I actually get to have conversations like this…

D: Look SquareGirl, the moon! (pointing to the moon)
SG: Yes D., the moon! Thank you so much for showing me, I love it when you share with me!
D: Touch it!
SG: Oh D., what a wonderful idea, I wish I could!
D: Reach for it!
SG: Okay D. I will. Thanks for the advice.

Just passing on a message from my new dear friends at Thai Sabai…

“Kindly step outside to retrieve messages from your cell phone, it will improve your karma.”

I feel that my karma has improved for passing on this message.

Goshdarnit, there I go, jinxing my karma…oh well, at least the kink in my neck is gone.

Happy Birthday BabyG!

I love you sunshine! Can't wait to see what your terrific two's bring.

Love Always,
Auntie

A little poem I wrote before my morning coffee...

And after my morning coffee, I will likely have the good sense to take it down...

Infinity
Come swim with me in this infinite sea,
Where I am you and you are We
And we are all one in infinity.


Nevermind, I'll guess I'll keep it.

Today's something new I learned...

Something new I learned today is how to blog stuff in italics. While blogging stuff in italics may seem like no big deal to most, I am what my siblings refer to as the "technically challenged" one in the family, as they all do fancy stuff like "photoshop" and use digital camera's with like 16 megapixels and otherwise I wouldn't even know these things actually exist. My camera has four megapixels and feels rather inferior to my siblings Leica's and 16 megapixel camera's which is why I am glad it is so small so that it can easily hideout whenever my siblings cameras are around. Tomorrow I might try other fancy-schmancy stuff, like changing font sizes, but today, I am quite satisfied to have learned how to blog in italics.

What the heck does "heck" mean...

Dear Mr. President,
You seem to like to use the word “heck” a whole heck of a lot. I know how fond you are of using words out of context, leaving us all to figure out what you really meant by what you said (I would find that amusing too), and I believe that I have finally figured out that what you mean by “heck” is actually “fill in the blank”. Much like the word “Bleep” can be substituted for a variety of different words, “Heck” can also be used in a bleepload of ways. And that being the case, let me just say…”Mr. President, you’re doing a heck of a job”.

Peace,
SquareGirl

I’m “it”, your “it”, we’re all “it”…

I never really liked tag, never got the concept of it. I mean, what is the ultimate point? Is it a good thing to be “it”, or is it bad? What makes the game stop? I mean, are we all still playing tag? Is it possible that I could be “it” and not even know it? And speaking of strange childhood games, about that dodgeball…I’m not sure who the evil geniuses were that came up with that game, but I am quite sure that they are all currently in office. But now QueenB tagged me and I quite like QueenB. She shares one of my favorite titles, “Auntie”. So I will give this a shot, but since I always enjoy making up my own rules, as it annoys authority so, I have made a few changes to this 2x2 list.

2x2 list:
2 names you go by: SquareGirl, Auntie
2 parts of your heritage: Basque, Basque
2 things that scare you: Dodgeball, and while I love dogs, I am terrified of Pitbulls…I have a tragic story about Pitbulls that I will refrain from writing about as it is quite traumatic, and Mercury (not the planet)
2 of your everyday essentials: pass
2 things you are wearing right now: pass
2 things you want in a relationship: authenticity and acceptance, oh and humor too
2 truths: I need a whole post for this one…
2 of your favorite hobbies: pass
2 things you want really badly: World Peace
2 places you want to go on vacation: Bali, Santa Fe
2 things you want to do before you die: I prefer not to put that kind of pressure on myself
2 ways that you are stereotypically a chick: I use the Women’s restroom, I occasionally wear a skirt
2 things you are thinking about now: The first thing I am thinking about, the second thing I am thinking about
2 stores you shop at: pass
2 weird habits: Got an hour or two?
2 favorite items in the house: My view
2 stores and Barney's I wish we had: Pass
2 things that make me cry: Onions and really, really funny things
2 things I wish I could do different: Avoid dodgeballs
2 things I do very badly: Avoid Dodgeballs
2 hidden talents: Breaking rules
2 other email names: pass
2 difficult paths I took: There was this one in Angeles Crest, but I don’t think it had a name
2 Movies that you have seen last: King Kong (poor ole sweet King Kong!), The Producers
2 Changes you would like to see in the world: Peace, Lack of Judgment, Compassion, more Humor, more Love, Authenticity, Less consumerism, more empathy, a cleaner environment…
2 people to tag: Who to tag…who to tag? Well, I think I rather like being “It”

Thanks QueenB! Tag is so much more fun when you don’t have to run.

Because some things deserve more than just one day...

The paradox of honoring someone who eloquently spoke of and influenced peaceful protest of discrimination and judgment, during a time when some of our country’s most prevalent issues include war, terrorism, and invasion of privacy serves as a striking reminder of both how far we’ve come, yet how much farther we have left to go. While there are many holiday’s that I refrain from celebrating, due to the absurdity of it all (Valentine’s Day comes to mind), I really enjoy holiday’s such as Martin Luther King Jr. day, as it reminds me to really reflect upon and honor the simple, yet often forgotten values of peace and love as well as how much of an impact one individual can make, despite bureaucracy, politics, the existing system and a society that is all too fond of saying, “that’s bureaucracy/politics/system/society. It’s not going to change.”

It’s holiday’s like MLK day that serve as a reminder of those that HEARD people tell them "it's not going to change", but listened with their hearts, rather than their ears. Those that didn’t just recite well-written speeches, but LIVED what they spoke, influencing others through their actions as well as their words.

“There should be less talk; a preaching point is not a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough.”

These simple words of Mother Teresa always leave me speechless as they remind me that it is action, simple, doable action that makes more of a difference than words.

I often wonder if our society has failed to cultivate and nurture any future Martin Luther King Jr.’s, Mother Teresa’s or Ghandi’s or if society is even prepared to listen to or even recognize the next peace warrior that comes along. Perhaps our new teachers will not be quite as iconic as they used to be and in fact, perhaps they will not look like, sound like or be what we might expect.

I often laugh to myself when I say that I teach children on the spectrum. I think they laugh at me too when I say such things, thinking “SHE is teaching US? That’s what SHE thinks.” I can honestly say that I’ve changed to the core as a result of all that I have been taught by each of my very special and amazing little friends. They have taught me the importance of love, compassion, non-judgment, to see people for WHO they are, not by what they wear or say or drive. They have taught me that big groups of people, meetings and parties are HIGHLY overrated and not nearly as valuable as intimacy and true friendship. They have taught me that authenticity is so much more important than status and when you really think about it a dollar bill is just a green piece of paper. They have taught me that external validation is so much less important than really being happy about being yourself.

So maybe our new teachers will not be able to speak with the same eloquence as Martin Luther King Jr., but then again, maybe it’s time we evolve enough to hear with new ears. Maybe it’s time to recognize the message of peace and love that the Universe is constantly attempting to teach us. And maybe it’s time we all stopped preaching in order to "listen" as we pick up a broom and start sweeping.

Remembering...

“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.”

“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

Peace,
SquareGirl

Ahhh, the irony!

After a week of spending quite a bit more time online than usual, I came home from work on Friday to discover that my DSL was no longer working. So after spending some lovely quality time on the phone with the good people at SBC, I was informed that they needed to send a technician out and would I be available MONDAY between 4 and8?...??!!???!!! So until then, when I have been home this weekend, I have been wandering around my apartment with my laptop in an attempt to “borrow” a signal form one of my many neighboring DSL subscribers, and I finally picked up an ever so slight one here…



And yes, that in the background is THE remaining earing, and yes I know, that is not a Buddha candle, but a Buddha candle HOLDER and in case you can’t tell, I am quite certain he is laughing at me. So I now am correcting any marginalized fiction from my Lesson Learned. 1. It was a Buddha candle HOLDER and 2. maybe I didn’t learn the lesson after all.

This post is 100% True.

The Right Way

My grandfather tells me he would have been left-handed, but when he was a boy, they were not ALLOWED to be left-handed and if he tried to use his left hand his teachers or parents would slap it. Thank goodness my grandfather has corrected this aberrant behavior and to this day is now right-handed! I mean can you imagine how inconvenient and annoying it would be to all of us right-handed people to have to see people like my grandfather using their left hands our entire lives?

Lesson Learned...

Last week I went shopping with one of my sisters and I bought a pair of earrings that I adored and a Buddha candle. I looooved those earrings so much that as soon as I walked into my apartment I went to my bathroom mirror to try them on and dropped one right down the uncovered drain in my bathroom sink. My sister thought I should try to open the pipes to get it out, but I opted not to. I’m quite certain that if you try to open the pipes to retrieve an earring the same day you bought them AND a Buddha candle, you’ve missed the point.

What Ails us...

Ironically, or perhaps appropriately, the only two things I remember very well about my undergrad. abnormal psych class are the two caveats issued by the teacher.

1. Diagnosis’s can be a Catch 22. Helpful because they help us understand ourselves or others better and (possibly) know how to better help people, yet harmful because they can reduce a person to a label that comes with a whole lot of assumptions and enable people to falsely believe that the diagnosis IS the person.

2. We would all most likely contract Medical Students Disease…you know, the disease where everytime you hear all of the symptoms of a “disease” or “disorder”, you are SURE that you or someone you know has it.

I did indeed contract Medical Student’s disease, but thank goodness, have since recovered from it. Gosh there was some rough going there, but I am happy to say that I am finally completely Medical Student Disease Free.

Converstaions with very clever people...

The wonderful thing about becoming adult, is that if you pay enough attention, you begin to understand yourself better. You understand your needs, how to meet them, why things affect you the way they do, and what to do about the way you are affected by things. I often find that the best way to know how to treat someone, refer to someone, talk to someone is simply to ask them, as they usually know best.

I have a good friend who used to stutter as a child, so when I was working with a little guy who stuttered, but was not yet able to understand enough to tell me why, I asked my friend what I should do to help him. She told me that because stuttering tends to be anxiety driven, the best thing to do is to sustain neutral eye contact, as a break in eye contact communicates that you have stopped listening. Also, you should not interrupt or try to speak for the person, as that will only fluster them and perpetuate more stuttering. Intuitively this makes a lot of sense to me. I don’t consider myself to stutter, but often, when I haven’t taken enough time to gather my thoughts, I speak what the boyfriend affectionately refers to as "Bushman" (as in the South African Bushmen, not the president…although I guess it could work either way). It’s interesting to me how many people who think of themselves as quite clever respond to certain things in the same exact way. On many occasions, I have had this exact conversation (well okay, maybe not EXACT conversation, but still quite close) with these oh-so clever people...

SG (before fully collecting thoughts): “I…um, I, well I think, er…”

CleverPeople (cutting me off): “Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh!”

SG: Silence

CP: “I’m just kidding.”

SG: Silence

CP: “Go ahead. What were you going to say?”

SG: “Nothing. Nevermind.”

CP: “No really, I was just joking. I want to know.”

SG: “That’s okay.”

CP: “Just tell me.”

SG: “No, it was nothing.”

CP: “C’mon SG. Just say it!”

SG: “No. It’s okay.”

CP: “I don’t understand why you won’t tell me. Why you gotta make such a big deal out of this?!?!”

…um.…sorry?

One reason that Dr. Seuss is my favorite Doctor...

I often believe that children diagnosed on the spectrum enjoy challenging our creativity. “You mean you’re just going to tell or ask me to do something? C’mon!, you can do better than THAT!”. I occasionally find my creativity rewarded with an unexpected, yet positive response...

Jason was a picky eater, and one thing that still remains a challenge for me is the food thing. I love a challenge and am always willing to address ANY issue, tantrums, biting, running, you name it, but food is an issue that I believe can’t be forced. I would do my best to get Jason to eat whatever new healthy food was sent by his mom, but unless it was something he ate regularly at home, he would refuse to even try it, until one day when I held up a cherry tomato and said…

“Try it, try it and you may. Try it and you may I say”

I was stunned but pleased when he actually picked up the tomato, ate it and emphatically and enthusiastically said:

“Saaaaaay! I like tomatos and ham! I do, I like it SquareGirl-I-Am!”

You got me thinking...

“Hi. I know we just met, but I will be your sons/daughters teacher for the next year. You may know nothing about me. I may in fact be loving, may have a sibling with on the spectrum and may have certification in sensory integration. On the other hand, I may in fact be rude, judgmental and impatient. I may be inexperienced, and may feed your child cupcakes and punch (I mean, no big deal, it was a party after all). I may hate my job or then again, I may love it. Or I may be here simply because the district couldn’t find anyone better. But it doesn’t matter. I mean why should it matter if you know these things or not because this year, six hours per day, everyday, I am your child’s teacher whom you will entrust to teach your child and if I have the time, I might jot down a couple sentences a day to let you know how he/she did.”

Hmmm…Now that I think of it, maybe teachers need blogs of their own.

More than I care to report...

I’ve read (and written) a whole lot of reports. And assessments. And IEP’s. More than I care to count. I hate reports and assessments and IEP’s and have found them, for the most part, to be very impractical and at times pretty useless and inaccurate. You might be thinking, but wait, I have this really wonderful report written by (insert noted expert’s name here), but I would argue that you are probably wrong. I clearly remember discovering how useless reports, IEP’s and assessments were to me on my first day of teaching an SDC class of children all diagnosed with autism, grades K-4 (Don’t even get me started on the genius of that plan). As I waited at the front of the school to pick up some of my kids, someone came out of the school office to tell me that the bus driver, at back of the school called to let them know that Jeremy had ran out of the bus and I needed to get him, as well as my other students slowly disregulating on the bus for me. Let’s see, Jeremy (whom I had never met)…can count rote to 100, adds double digit numbers, receives OT 2x’s per week for 30 min., had a behavioral plan for aggression the previous year…I was sure I could locate him somewhere on the campus of oh, say 800 restless kids who had yet to enter their own classroom for the first time this year. After all, I was very familiar with autism and my class was the only SDC class on campus, as it had been moved here this year because the school it was at the previous year ran out of room…

So after a whole lot of chaos which included oh-so-wonderful first time encounters with several of the general ed. teachers I had not yet met “Hi, I’m the new SDC teacher here…you know the one you resent for getting one of the bigger classrooms because we needed a sink for the new class that you can’t even understand why has to be on our campus and now is MAKING you take one of her students for math ‘cause it’s the law’, even though it really isn’t your problem. Lovely to meet you too”. one of the aides from the previous year (we at least got to keep something) showed up and helped us locate Jeremy and get him and my now (due to 15 minutes of waiting) extremely disregulated students into the classroom. After that, I proceeded to have one of the most chaotic, crazy, disheartening, frustrating and disregulating, days of my life. I realized that I had nearly committed to memory almost 8 feet worth of reports and IEP’s, that did not tell me anything I really would have liked or needed to know…

What I would have liked and needed to know is that Jeremy is quite agile and coordinated, loves the colors pink and black, craves a lot of deep pressure and will eat chalk (entire pieces of chalk). I would have liked and needed to know that William, loves to be chased and the best way to make that happen is by running away from people, especially during long fire drills where you are outside and there are plenty of people to chase you, really thrives with a photo schedule, doesn’t like having furniture moved, is very affectionate, happy and loves music. I would have liked to know that Steven loves Good Night Moon, is very interested in the weather and seasons, and likes things to be very clean and neat.

Instead I knew that Jeremy added two digit numbers 80% of the time 4 out of 5 trials, William could read 25 sight words, including STOP (yes, he could read the word STOP, but would not do so when running through a field with 800 students and teachers). And that Steven knew the phonics sounds of all 26 letters 90% of the time.

As I read some amazing blogs about children like sweet India, charming Bud and a cute little guy named Charlie, I realize now, that instead of a stack of reports and IEP’s, in order to know, understand, work with, accommodate and teach others about my students, what I really needed for each of my new students was a blog.

Healing Autism...

The first day I ever read a blog (that I was aware of…I quite possibly had seen a blog in the past but wasn’t aware of what it was), I stumbled upon comments from this post and told myself that I was keeping myself out of the intense and passionate autism blogring. But then, obviously, I changed my mind…I, having been diagnosed with autism at age three and having worked with children being diagnosed on the spectrum for over 12 years, foolishly believe I have some insight into this subject…I am also blessed to have very few readers, which helps when expressing opinions on so the oh-so-controversial subject of causes and cures for autism.

I work in early intervention and have indeed witnessed what “recovery”. What I mean by “recovery”, is simply that the child has lost his or her diagnosis and lives what society perceives as a fully, inclusive and functional life, save the few idiosyncrasies that we still have, yet suppress or conceal since we have been told by enough people that they are “strange”. When people talk about a “cure” for autism, I often wonder what that would look like? Would a “cure” remove interests labeled to be perseverative? If a child who was 9 or 12 or 17 was “cured”, would he or she suddenly know how to communicate effectively, understand novels, politics, art and poetry, care about economics, understanding lying (my mom had to explain what a lie was to me and why people did this), care about being popular, name brands and getting good grades? Perhaps it is my own tendency to think in pictures, but I hear people say things, like “I want to be happy” or “successful” or “fulfilled”, I often think, “yes, but what does that LOOK like?”. What will your life actually look like if you have or are these things? I consider myself to be very “happy”, “successful”, and “fulfilled”, yet conventionally, I do not have what society traditionally expects for someone of my age, gender, appearance, etc. Yet, I really don’t care, because, as I mentioned, I am happy, fulfilled and my own vision of successful. Now this is turning out to be a long post, but I do have a point and believe I might actually get to it eventually…so back to the title of this post, I don’t believe autism needs to be cured. It needs to be healed.

I simply can’t wrap my head around what a “cure” for autism would look like. And I have yet to meet anyone who can effectively explain it to me. But I know what “healing” autism would look like...at least to me…and in case you have read thus far, are not bored or irritated and still care about what I think, HEALING autism would include cleaning up the environment that is contributing to this diagnosis, detoxing our little friends bodies, removing pollutants, preservatives, hormones and mercury from our food, immunizations, cleansers and bath products AND creating a safer, more inclusive and less judgmental society who accepts and encourages what they now label as “strange” or “atypical behavior” (Whew! We have a lot of work ahead). Maybe, just maybe, we might want to try practicing less judgment and scrutiny within our own community.

Oh yeah, and by the way, if your wondering what caused my “autism”…it was my refrigerator mother who paid too much attention to my baby sister…How do I know this? Well, the doctor told her, and surely a medical doctor could NEVER be wrong.

No rain on MY parade...

The Universe is always very good to me…so good that even though I live a mile and a half from the Rose Parade Route and never go, the Universe actually sends the floats to me for a pre-show every New Years Eve (except this year on New Years night). So good, that even though it was pouring on the actual day of the parade, my very own pre-parade, had some, but very minimal rain. I never forget to thank the Universe for starting off every new year with a reminder of all of the wonderful, exciting and magical things to come…So to the Universe, and everyone and thing in it…Happy New Year! I hope that it is filled with an abundance of beauty, growth, peace and wonder!