Road Trip Summer 2017

Road Trip Summer 2017

We took another road trip to the Mid-West a few weeks ago. We had a fabulous time seeing friends and family along the way, although the 2300 miles in the car did get a tad long by the last leg of the journey. We began in Chicago exploring the city and taking in a Cubs game. Bucket list item for Matt & Oliver checked off. We were also able to attend a Liv Life event in northern Illinois. (Liv Life is an awesome parent run Sanfilippo organization.)

We then ventured on to Michigan to spend a few days with my best friends and their families. Having all of us stay together in a home with our husbands and children is a dream come true. It is one of the highlights of my year and I am so glad we were able to make it happen once again this year. Oliver is well loved there.

On to Indianpolis to see family. A stop in our old college town for a bite to eat and a quick visit to campus. And some time in Ohio with Matt's family. We were exhausted, but thrilled out little man was up for another long car trip.

It's the summer of memories!

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.