Splendid Mayhem: I Have A Bug- or 15

Welcome To Holland

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.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

I Have A Bug- or 15

Some how, my computer got sick. Yea, it's got some funky virus. So, right now- I'm cleaning it off. Getting all my pictures and music burned onto disks so I can wipe it out. Just wanted to let the 'blogger world' know that if for some reason I disappear for a few days- I crashed my computer. My computer guru friend, Brian, will be talking me through it over the phone in a bit. He's out of town for work- or I'd make him come do it. Keep your fingers crossed my computer makes it out ok. I'll go insane and my house will be completely spotless, we'll be eating gourmet meals, and my kids won't be getting away with eating dirt if it's broken. And, we ALL know we can't let that happen!! Haha

2 comments:

Andrea "The H family"February 12, 2008 at 1:32 PM
bummer girl! When you come back pray that I don't lose my entire blog. I'm attempting to do the 3 column thing from blog tips!
LOL
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* ~ *Jessica* ~ *February 12, 2008 at 3:08 PM
I'm not gone yet. Refer to the above post. The 3 column thing wiped my blog clean and I had to start over- not with the posts, just my side bar stuff. Good luck! Can't wait to see what you've done with the place... LOL
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