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.

Monday, July 12, 2010

San Diego July 2010, YES AGAIN!

Yes folks... again!  Who can blame us?  This is the only thing we ever do!  Our financial situation is not such that we can do anything else.... so.... enjoy some pics from our latest trip:)  It was a doozie!  We had a CRAZY trip this time... Mitch had a seizure the first day we were there, we had an earthquake and we survived it all! LOL!  Even with all the happenings the boys didn't want to come home and I don't think I have to say that I didn't want to either:)  Will is the best husband ever!  He always tries to make me happy and do incredible things for me, even though we can't afford much right now he knew I wanted to be there for my birthday so he made it happen.  I am so lucky!  I love my family!  We did the regular things we always do like swimming (A LOT) and Bates Nut Farm and we hit Seaport Village this time too!  Oh... something new that happened, Major is swimming all on his own!  He is swimming from one end of the pool to the other... ALL ON HIS OWN!  He's a fish!

My birthday started with kisses...
My sweet boys surprised me with a cake:)
Enjoying some fireworks.. we had a great view of them:)
Somebody pooped out on us early!
A birthday doggie pile!
And it ended with kisses... It was a great day!
Mitch loves this spot, it's just perfect for him
And then he'll get cold
but that doesn't last long!
he gets off the chair himself and scoots over to the pool when he wants to get back in!  He is so independent!
Major was absolutely uninhibited this time!  This was one of the few times that Will was actually looking before he jumped!
I am one camera happy fool!
I would have had a beautiful little girl:) haha
My little "Cat in the Hat" at Seaport Village

Don't get bored with me... I know that is all I blog about!  haha!  It is so fun!  We love it there!
Posted by Courtney at 8:17 PM

3 comments:

  1. The MortonsJuly 12, 2010 at 9:25 PM

    how fun court.. way jealous! I'm glad everything worked out okay, I can't believe you guys experienced a earthquake.. was it scary? The boys are getting so big and is mitch totally standing up in the picture of you and him? Anyways I love that your a camera happy fool, I wish I was ={ Well we miss you guys and hope you guys can either come out here or maybe we could come out there sometime (if we can get Joey away from work). LOVE YOU!

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  2. CourtneyJuly 13, 2010 at 9:29 AM

    It was soooooo scary Nicki! I just froze because for a second I didn't even know what was happening! I saw the stove shaking in the wall and then I saw the chandelier swinging and that is when it dawned on me that it was an earthquake! CRAZY!
    Ya, Mitch stands pretty good! He doesn't like to for very long but it's good for him:)
    We need to come out and see Jayden! I bet he is so big! Love you guys:)

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  3. Alyce ArmstrongJuly 13, 2010 at 12:53 PM

    No wonder you love it in San Diego. It looks like a perfect getaway. You have a beautiful family! Glad you made it home safely.

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