WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reservedI 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.
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Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast ...
MOTHERSReal Mothers don't eat quiche;
they don't have time to make it.Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils
are probably in the sandbox.Real Mothers often have sticky floors,
filthy ovens and happy kids.Real Mothers know that dried play dough
doesn't come out of carpets.Real Mothers don't want to know what
the vacuum just sucked up.Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'
and get their answer when a little
voice says, 'Because I love you best..'Real Mothers know that a child's growth
is not measured by height or years or grade...
It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother...The Images of Mother4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.14 YEARS OF AGE - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom : )
snopes.com: Beaver Dam Letter http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/dammed.asp
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