Our Babies

Our Babies
Luke and Claire

"Welcome to Holland"

By Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987. 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.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Dogs Are Parents Too!

Funny story.  So, lately, Luke has been going to sleep and then crying a bit while he is asleep.  It varies if we go in and pick him up.  Usually it depends how tired we are after a long day of work.  Well, last week this happened and after listening to it for a few minutes, we discussed if one of us was going into his room and who it might be.  After a few minutes of discussion, two people in the room had had enough of this and decided to take action.  Those two people turned out to be Ralphie and Sophie!  They hopped off the couch (something we find difficulty doing) and trotted into Luke's room.  We watched with amazement to see what would happen.  A few minutes later Luke stopped crying and the dogs trotted back out and onto the couch again like nothing had happened.  No one knows for sure what they did back there, but Luke was once again asleep and everyone in the living room was happy again.  In the long run, I think our dogs just might be better parents than we are!  Strangely, I'm ok with that!  I mean, Sophie has had kids so she is qualified right?!?!


What are YOU lookin' at?  Don't make me come out of this Bumbo!  You won't like me when I get angry!

Nothing makes me happier than a little food!  Thanks momma!


2 comments:

  1. KarenFebruary 7, 2011 at 9:05 AM

    I think it means that if the dogs can learn to draw a bath, prepare a bottle and change a diaper, your work is DONE! With a little work, maybe they can even learn the "bring me a beer" trick. I love Baby Luke's haircut...he looks darling!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The ScottsFebruary 7, 2011 at 10:12 PM

    Awesome, if Sohpie's a mom then Belle is too! I think you're on to something! I like this!

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