This is a very inspirational story that I read a few days ago and want to have here so that I can always look back and remember how lucky I am to have the chance to raise a celestial child. I think this story also applies to so many times in our lives when things don't go quite how we planned. Hooray for Holland!
WELCOME TO HOLLAND
byEmily 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.
4 comments:
I found this article/story about a year ago and I just loved it. You are right, it perfectly describes so many situations in life where things don't go as planned!
I LOVED that story. I can't say I understand how mothers who land in Holland feel or what they experience, but I am grateful for this lesson I could learn through you. You are amazing and obviously loved by your sweet children. Thanks for the reminder that even if things don't go as planned, enjoy the journey!
Thanks again, Tammy, for letting me stop in and catch up on your lives. You and John are amazing parents. Little Byrce is still in our prayers. Good for you for blogging! Rebekah and I went to hear Richard Peck (author) at the library and I brought an old journal to write notes in. I was amazed at all I had forgotten, what then children said or did, etc. Hope all continues well and that answers can be found.
I love the "Welcome to Holland" story. My mother gave it to me years ago with regards to my boys. I had forgotten about it. Thanks for putting it here on your blog.
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