Volunteers

September 30, 2009

Volunteers

The Make-a-Wish volunteers who have been working to grant Waverly's wish came over tonight for a little going away party. They are both so sweet and do such an amazing job with families. They brought gifts for both Waverly and Oliver - treats for on the plane, a backpack, coloring books with crayons, board books, stickers, sunscreen and an lovely scrapbook album for all of our Disney photos. We received all of the details for our trip. They really do take care of everything! We are so excited for this trip. Matt and I are both in desperate need for a break and ready to have some family fun. Only a few more days and we are off to Disney World!! Thank you Make-a-Wish.

Comments

kiki_bourque said…

So exciting:) We had such a great time when Dawson had his wish. It was almost as if he had never been sick. It was nice to get away from Dr.'s and hospitals and enjoy ourselves as a family. I hope you all have just as much fun as we did. GKTW Is the most amazing place I have ever been and will forever be in our hearts

September 30, 2009 at 9:32 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.