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.

Friday, May 28, 2010

WE FINALLY MADE IT!


Well folks, we finally made it to Arizona to see my grandma and the new temple.  It was such a fun trip!  We always have so much fun when we go to Thatcher.  Grandma is the most gracious host (as always).  My aunt and uncle are so fun to spend time with too... they always take us out to eat at "Shorty's", where my uncle has a running tab:)  Believe it or not (grandma couldn't believe it) but I did not order a fried ice cream!  They have THE BEST fried ice cream ever!  lol!  We hit all of the yummy mexican restaurants to get our fill of mexican food before we come home to Utah where there is none.  We hit El Charro where they have the best Chilaca's in the world.  We even hit the new one Mechy's and it wasn't too bad.  We also went to Tony's for my uncle's birthday.  I think I gained 10 pounds on this trip from all the yummy food!  The only thing I regret (I am such an idiot) is that when we went to the temple with grandma, I FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE!  How dumb?  There we were all dressed up and with grandma and I just forgot!?!  I am sure there will be another opportunity:)  All in all, it was a fantastic time, as usual.

LOL!  This is at my cousin's house.  They built this huge "pirate ship" tree house but all I could think of was "I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!"

Maj ridin the John Deere with a big ole smile

There's Maddock with his big smile

and Mitch was enjoying the warmth and sunshine

This was THE CRAZIEST thing I've ever seen!  Their cattle come right up to the fence to watch everything that is happening. You are now entering "The Twilight Zone"  LOL! 

SO FUNNY!

Maddock and Ryder talkin to the cows

These two had so much fun in this little car it was so fun to watch


sweet grandma always loves to just sit and watch the kids play

I love this woman!  She is so special to me.

My kids love her too!  I am so grateful for the blessing it is for my kids to be able to know grandma and what a wonderful woman she is.

Mitch reached and pulled for grandma the whole time we were there.  Unfortunately she can't pick him up anymore but he was sure trying.  I think Mitch knows grandpa and wanted to give her a big hug from him:)




Posted by Courtney at 12:32 PM

2 comments:

  1. BeckMay 28, 2010 at 4:06 PM

    How cute is that! I love Mitch. Hes a stud! And what a fun trip. Your Grandma looks awesome. I want to meet her :) Count me in on your next trip to AZ!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Angie H.June 3, 2010 at 12:01 AM

    So glad you guys had a fun time! Looks like you had a blast and that sucks you forgot to take a pic at the Temple...I hate it when that happens!

    ReplyDelete

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