Splendid Mayhem: Day 4: A Good Day!

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.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Day 4: A Good Day!

School was a joy today :) I only have 1 course on Tues/Thursdays. It's Drama Lecture. My teacher is a Grad student and super upbeat. Today we were split up in groups and put on 2 minute long skits. I have to say, our group was the BEST :) And, i'm not just saying that either... It was cute, and we made everybody laugh. We were even giggly as we did it.

Thanks to all those who have said prayers for me this week! My first French quiz is in the morning. Eck! Wish me luck! Oh, I feel WAY smart in French 1. I'm no longer the biggest idiot in the class... even better!

* I *think* i'm going to try to wear 'real' clothes tomorrow. I have a cute new dress I'd love to wear and I picked up new shoes today for 3 bucks! (I think somebody put it in the system wrong, but it was good for me!) I do lots and lots of walking, so I am not sure how this will go. Decisions... I just feel better when I'm not in slouchy clothing.