Bookworm

December 20, 2008

Bookworm

I have spent much of the past few days lamenting the fact that Christmas is approaching. Last night Matt and I went to the mall to do the last of our Christmas shopping. (My mom stayed with the kids to give us a night out.) Even though we were shopping for each other, I just started crying in the middle of Barnes & Noble. I always end up in the children's book section. Waverly used to LOVE being read to and most of her toys were books. I was so proud to have such a little bookworm on my hands. I had dreams of reading "Anne of Green Gables" and "Little Women" to her at night. As I stood there, I was again reminded of a dream lost.

In lighter news, Matt and I are officially Virginians. We spent most of the morning at the DMV getting new driver's licenses and plates. We were actually able to get handicapped plates, which is going to be a huge help getting the kids in & out of the car and in & out of places.

Comments

Anonymous said…

I am once again reminded of the blessings I have, and tend to take for granted when I am dealing with surly teens.

Do you have a faith that you practice? Or has the inevitable question of "Why" made that too illogical for you?

I wonder what I would do.

December 21, 2008 at 12:52 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.