At Home

August 25, 2008

At Home

We went up to my parent's house this past weekend. We had left a bunch of things up there - including booster seats and toys - that we desperately needed. We had a great weekend. I had 3.5 hours of uninterrupted "me time" sitting outside with a book and a cup of coffee. It was wonderful! I think we have settled on renting an apartment for the next year. We are going to downsize to a 2 bedroom to save money. I don't think it will be a problem, since Wavey sleeps with us most of the time anyway. This apartment has proved to be so cosy and I feel so at home here. I am excited to have our own furnishing and make it our own.

I had a meeting this morning with the Infant & Toddler's Connection. They will be managing Oliver's therapy until he is 3. We go in next week for an evaluation and then we can set up services. The therapists will come to our home. It is going to be really nice for us. I should also find out Waverly's placement for school within the next few days. I am anxious to see what services they offer and how it will work out for us.

All is all, Virginia is a nice place to be.

Comments

Unknown said…

You're back! Hope the move went well. Give us a call now that ya'll are back in VA. We'd love to get together with you and the kids.
-Andy

August 25, 2008 at 5:46 PM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl 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 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.