Spring Break in Ohio

Spring Break in Ohio

We are home after a spring break trip to Ohio to visit Matt's family. The weather was perfect and the kids had a wonderful time with their grandparents, cousin, and aunt. We were also able to squeeze in a few visits with some old friends.

Here is an old photo of Waverly (and her baa-baa) when she was 2 at the Columbus Zoo

The first part of the trip was spent in Columbus. We lived there for the first 2.5 years of Waverly's life, so it holds a lot of precious memories for Matt & I. We drove by our old house and through our neighborhood. We went to the Columbus Zoo - one of the best zoos in the country (thanks Jack Hanna!). Wavey and I used to go there weekly to see the animals and enjoy a nice walk. As we weaved our way through exhibits, a flood of memories came back to me. It was wonderful to remember.

Oliver standing by the fake alligator

Oliver riding the carousel

Waverly riding the carousel

Wavey petting a goat in the petting zoo area

Just a cute photo

Comments

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.