Why some people are in our lives

Do you ever wonder why we are so blessed to have the people we know in our lives?? You know what I'm talking about, the people that help you remember that you are so lucky to have this very special boy in your family. No matter how hard things are at this given moment, they help you find the blessings that you know are there but you are having a little hard time recalling. I read this awesome post the other night after having an especially hard couple of days dealing with Nicky and some of the many challenges that come with a sweet little boy that has to deal with aspergers. So I thought I need to post this so that I will always have something to look back on and remember how awesome Holland can be. We will still have our challenges but it is always worth the trip. I am so thankful to Merodene that she put this post up so I could read it and then steal it and share it with everyone that I know.





WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by Emily Perl Kingsley
©©1987 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.


I am so thankful for Nicky and the special set of challenges that are in our family because of this wonderful little boy that chose to come into in our family. I am so thankful for his kindness and the love that he shows to his family. I am also thankful to wonderful friends, that help me remember to enjoy where I am at.