Thursday, October 22, 2009

Our Detour to Holland

Our friend Shamae challenged us to show off pictures from our trip to Holland. I was initially very disappointed in the change of flight plan, but it turns out, the people in Holland are some of the most beautiful people in the world...


Welcome to Holland
By Emily Perl Kingsley

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.

So, without further ado...Welcome to OUR Holland...











4 comments:

  1. I love it. I agree with what you said on my blog. I have met so many dear friends because of our trip to Holland. :-) People I never would have met but am so glad I did. Your boys are beautiful. You are a great family! And you my friend are a wonderful mother.

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  2. well meri you know I think you are an awesome mother . Your family is so great and you guys totally rock i just wish i had , had friends like you guys when my boys were younger . Unless you are a parent of a t1 they just dont get it . I used to have friends that would come over and as soon as i started to get the one son ready for a shot they would bulk up and leave .My son used to hate that cause it would make him think he was weird . Oh well you guys rock and you are a great mom my friend.

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  3. You put our story very eliquently (sp?). So totally true. It is definitely a different trip than one plans, but you adapt and move on and enjoy the rest of it! You have a wonderful way with words...keep it up!

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  4. Well, I'm totally bawling my eyes out! Thanks for posting that. Truly beautiful.

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