Splendid Mayhem

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.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Would ya say a little prayer for my littlest Mister, Parker? He's sick. He had a horrible night/day. We went to the Dr today. He started amoxicillin and breathing treatments. His temp is rising. He had motrin 2 hours ago and tylenol hour ago. At this point, I'm worried. We did 5 minutes of ice packs under the arms and in the groin area. I'm hoping it will start going now soon. If all else fails (cool bath, more meds, ice packs, etc) we will be going to the hospital.

3 comments:

The MitchellsFebruary 4, 2008 at 10:13 PM
okay, I've only been the mother of a son for a week now, but ice packs to the groin sounds like a horrible thing to have to do to a child...I'm so sorry, I'm sure it seems like a never ending ordeal...too bad we don't get frequent flyer miles or spa points for each trip to the doctors office...you and I could take a wonderful vacation...but then, who would watch the kiddos? love from Dallas
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DawnFebruary 5, 2008 at 5:12 AM
I hope Parker's fever went down. It's so scary when they are that little. Keep us posted.
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Popcorn HouseFebruary 5, 2008 at 9:37 AM
OH NO! Keep us posted. I said a little prayer.
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