My Mother, Ranae, had several children in sets. She had a first marriage in which my older sister, Sharlene, and my older brother, Vern, were born. That marriage ended in divorce.
Ranae later married my father. Four children came to this union. My father died in a boating accident when I was 13 – an experience for another blog post.
Mom eventually met and married Joseph Johnson, a good man who helped her raise her children and build a beautiful six-acre setting for her thriving dream—Rapid Eye Technology (RET), dba The Rapid Eye Institute.
My grandmother, Ranae’s mother, Alta, firmly believed that my autistic brother, Kelton, could be healed–this belief helped set the course for my mother’s path to RET and the Skills for Life that support it.
Understanding is Rooted in the Past
There is a whole lot of living in the above paragraphs. I will be referring to it often – I wanted you to have the background because these early experiences have greatly impacted my life. In this post, I will address how, as the closest sibling to my autistic brother Kelton, my experiences kept leading me back to Rapid Eye Technology, and give me cause to believe in magic.
I grew up with Kelton – 2 years between us. I was not the best sister. Because Kelton was nonverbal, there were many events that happened that were easily blamed on him, i.e., the statue or vase getting broken, the ice cream man demanding money from mom instead of the rocks Kelton gave him for payment (at my direction), and last, but not least—a really good excuse to beat up the neighbor kids that teased Kelton, etc.
I prided myself on being strong for the cause of good, I think you get the idea. I may have blamed Kelton for events or even teased him a bit—but no one else had that right and I was willing to teach them manners. I later carried this into school. My third-grade teacher shared with me, “Lynell, you can’t solve violence with violence.” My response was, “Why not? Everyone has their lunch money and the bullies are afraid of me – I keep the peace.” Yes, I have grown up since then and now agree with my teacher—LOL!
The Beginning of Woo-Woo
Kelton has amazing abilities. If something was important to him, he could make it happen (yup, me too!). At the age of four, Kelton would get on the roof of our house and run along the edge bouncing a basketball. Seeing him do this was very upsetting for neighbors and passers-by. Imagine my horror one day when I brought a friend over to the house and he peed on her from the roof! He would also get up into the attic through an opening in the ceiling – with no chair under that opening, yet he would appear up there. How could he be so small and still get up there?
Once when our washer had “vibrated” itself in front of the door of our laundry room, the hinges being on the inside, the family was in a quandary as to how to get in there. I remember my dad saying he would have to ax the door down. Before that could happen, Kelton had moved the washer away from the door and walked right in—I believe because he liked to stare at the dryer and watch the laundry wash. How did the washer get moved? Playing day after day with Kelton and watching him do life, had a profound effect upon me.
Then one day, these questions became clear to me. I remember the day he got upset with me from across the room. He yelled, “No,” as he pointed at me. Without touching me, I felt pushed back against the wall. All these experiences, I called woo-woo! Things that I could not explain, yet I had seen and experienced. My conclusion? My brother had some serious woo-skills!
Magic Was Real
How did this affect me? All that time, I was watching mom Ranae, trying desperately to find something that would help Kelton. Shackley vitamins and Bio-Line water were among a lot of products we tried. We tried “alternative” healing techniques like kinesiology (I was muscle testing the neighbor kids in the second grade for lying) and mom starting a Montessori school so he would get some education and exposure to other children outside the family. I watched my mom pray for things and they would happen!
All this evidence gave my little logical mind the belief that magic is real!
This changed the world for me – opening up all kinds of possibilities!! The more I got exposed to other children and their families, the more I believed we were different, which I thought was cool.
Mom Ranae never gave up on finding something to help Kelton feel better about his life and deal with the frustration of his condition. As a result of this quest, Rapid Eye Technology and the Skills for Life were born. I grew up with it all and a lot of life-ing transpired for me between then and now.
With these experiences, the Skills for Life, and other life-affirming information–I learned how to embrace woo-woo and create a great fun life. I have my own formula for success–which has been revised often over the years with gained experience.
I’ll end this blog with this quote that describes my life well, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans!”
–Lynell Beckstrom