Splendid Mayhem: I'm An "OFFICIAL" U of A Student!

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 14, 2008

I'm An "OFFICIAL" U of A Student!

I attended a very LONG (not so exciting, but informative) college orientation today. I am an 'official' student now :) I think I've signed up for education suicide. Seriously- my schedule is this...

Monday & Wednesdays:
9:30 - 10:20~ Intermediate French 2 (I had 2 years of French in HS)
10:30 - 11:20~ Genetics
12:30 - 1:20~ Calculus 1
1:30 - 2:20~ Calculus Drill

Tuesday & Thursdays:
9:30 - 11:20~ Theatre Lecture (My most boring course of all, IMO)

Friday:
Same as Monday and Wednesday minus "drill"

So, do you agree with me? It's going to be pure h3ll?! Expect a few blog posts on- procrastination, boredom, STRESS, exams, totally freaking out (get the picture?)

4 comments:

KieraAugust 14, 2008 at 11:51 PM
Wow Jess! That is quite the schedule! I am very impressed with your determination. Good luck with all of it and feel free to vent!
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BarbaraAugust 15, 2008 at 12:37 PM
Congratulations! You're right - you will be one busy girl. Like Kiera - I'm impressed and looking forward to cheering you on!
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ChrystieAugust 16, 2008 at 9:50 AM
I love you, Jess! Perhaps I can be a bit of an inspiration to you because I attended grad school while working full time and, by the grace of God, I was able to do it. And I even occasionally got out and enjoyed life :-).

Of course, your schedule looks BRUTAL to me, being the arts girl that I am! The word "calculus" makes my skin crawl :-). BUT, you'll do great and I have full confidence that you will conquer and that you'll do just fine with the balancing. You're a mom to two young kids--you're USED to getting no sleep!!

Of course, the only "problem" I have with this whole situation is that you're gonna be a HOG! You know us elephants eat up hogs for dinner! :-)
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ErinAugust 19, 2008 at 12:35 AM
Man that sounds incredibly 'fun', and here I am complaining about completing a history assignment! Best of luck. Just wanted to say thanks for commenting on my blog, and no I don't mind at all if you add me on your friends list. There are lots of possibilities for sports Logen could compete in when he's older, who knows, he could be a superstar.
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