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.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

The Beautiful Life of Farrel & Bessie Layton

It’s finished!  My grandparent’s cousin did this book for them and she did a fantastic job.  It was decided that it would be about my grandparents and their children and grandchildren.  Since we have so many books already about our ancestors, there was no need to repeat everything so this book was focused on Farrel and Bessie Layton and their entire family.  I am so delighted to have this wonderful book finished and in my home.  I received it yesterday in the mail and I haven’t been able to put it down!  I have read it cover to cover and really enjoyed reading all about my family!  I am so proud of my heritage and feel so blessed to come from such a wonderful family.  I loved reading about my grandparents and their life stories but also reading about all my cousins and their life stories.  I learned some new things about everyone!  It was so exciting seeing this beautifully published book all about my family!  I could go on and on… If I had a scanner I would probably scan the entire thing so you could read it!  Each of my boys received a copy too, which I will hold on to until they are old enough to appreciate it.  Mad is so interested already though.  He always asks questions about his grandpa great that passed away and he talks about seeing him again.  I look forward to the day they can sit down and read it for themselves.  What a blessing!?!  Thank you, Grandma.  I love you so much.
Posted by Courtney at 4:37 PM

2 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 17, 2011 at 11:34 AM

    I am so happy you have this book. So precious.
    Loved reading the new things in your blog. Cute Birthday. The new moon :)
    The crate and the trip to Holland. I guess the trip to Holland relate to a lot of things in life.
    Love you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 17, 2011 at 11:34 AM

    Oh and you are so gorgeous in the header picture ! Haaaaa!

    ReplyDelete

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