Hilton Head

January 05, 2012

Hilton Head

As I mentioned, we opted to head out of town for Christmas this year. The traditions of the holidays were depressing us and a long weekend away sounded like the perfect idea. We found a great deal for Disney's Hilton Head resort. It was a long drive, but the kids were wonderful in the car. We had a beautiful suite with laundry and a full kitchen. The resort was family friendly and low key. We spent our days walking the beach, standing in the surf, swimming in the (heated) pool, exploring the town and eating some delicious food. We also took a day trip to Savannah on Christmas Eve.

It was wonderful for my mental health. The sadness that comes with the holiday season was avoided. We had great family time and made some lovely memories. I think we may have a new family tradition.

Eating dinner outside the night of our arrival

Waverly & Oliver in front of the Bambi & Thumper topiaries

Waverly & Matt walking the beach

Matt & Oliver standing in the surf (Oliver's feet were red and cold, but he loved it)

Family Photo at the beach

Waverly & Oliver in front of the fountain at Forsyth Park

Oliver running on the sand

Christmas morning outside on our balcony

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.