Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Welcome to Holland, we have arrived!!!

I know some of you LP Friends have read this, but for some reason I came across this today and thought of how lucky we truly are to have become parents of our kids. They really all seem to have been given the "happy" gene and brought us all together. So, with JD's birthday this weekend, I am so glad to have landed in Holland rather than my "original" plans. I hope that you all feel the same!!!


WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

4 comments:

Danielle said...

Great Post! I have that link on my blog. When I was having such a tough time dealing with everything, it helped so much! I love to reread it even now. It always brings a tear to my eye, but now it's because I am so very happy to have Peyton, and would not change her if I could!!

Caden and Mommy said...

I agree with you 100%. I am so glad I "landed in Holland". I couldn't imagine life without Caden!

Anonymous said...

Jill,

Yes, I would recommend Dr. Tunkel. I emailed your Yahoo account in case you want to contact me.

Amanda

BRYAN'S YAYA said...

I love this post. Who knew how magical Holland could be?

Candi
YaYa to Bryan