[tri-med] Welcome to Holland




For all the new folks.

For those who've read it hundreds of times, sorry! But it's such a
classic.......an oldie but a goodie.......pertinent the second, third and
fourth time around...........


 Michelle mom to Alex (14,partial trisomy 14 mosaic) and Molly (11)
 MichiganUSA


 "Welcome to Holland"
 written by Emily Pearly Kingsley

 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 wonderful  plans.
The
 coliseum, Michelangelo's David, the gondolas in Venice. You may even 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 flight attendant comes in and
 says, "Welcome to Holland".

 "Holland???" you say. "What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy. All
 my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

 But there's been a change of flight plan. They've landed in Holland and
 there you must stay. The important thing is that they ahven'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 notice that Holland has windmills. Holland
 has tulips, Holland even has Rembrants.

 But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy. And they're
 bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. 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 go away because
 the loss of that dream is a 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, very lovely things about
 Holland.



                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
                       www.trisomyonline.org
                  Families Helping Families On-line

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