Brave Girl

September 01, 2012

Brave Girl

A new favorite photo of Waverly & I. Matt snapped this just a few minutes before her surgery. I love her big, bright smile. She is such a good patient.

Comments

Joanne said…

Hi Shannon,

I just love this photo so much, and I'm so glad to know that Waverly came out in such amazingly high spirits so soon after the surgery was completed. Been thinking about you often. I can imagine what an incredibly emotional week this must have been for you all (I know it sure was for me!), but to have it done and behind you must be a tremendous relief. xoxo, Joanne

September 2, 2012 at 8:23 AM

Anonymous said…

Absolute endearing moment! I can see the love between the two of you. Prayed for her and thought of you all last week. So glad to hear of good results. Best of luck with back to school. You and Matt are doing awesome!
Katy

September 2, 2012 at 6:16 PM

Pamela said…

What a sweet, sweet photo. I love it!

September 20, 2012 at 9:05 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.