Waverly Needs Help

September 20, 2013

Waverly Needs Help

I am so incredibly excited about Waverly's school experience this year. She is so loved by her 4th grade peers. They show her kindness each day and I know she is making a life long impact on them in the process.

The kids made posters about Waverly and this was one a little girl made. I love the message of lending a helping hand. The kids have been helping Wavey get to the playground for recess, taking her walker outside for her, pushing her on the swing. I am overwhelmed by the level of acceptance she is shown.

Comments

Kamarah said…

That is so sweet :)

September 20, 2013 at 8:20 PM

Julia said…

How beautiful. One of my only hopes for both of my boys is that they grow up with kindness and love for other people in their hearts. It is clear so many of Waverly's classmates have this in their hearts!

September 23, 2013 at 11:41 AM

Anonymous said…

I love integrated schools! Typically-developing children benefit so much from having these programs in their schools. nm

September 23, 2013 at 11:39 PM

PK said…

What a beautiful poster. I love it. It sounds like Waverly has a wonderful group of classmates. What a blessing.

September 23, 2013 at 11:54 PM

Kathryn said…

It's such a cute poster!

September 24, 2013 at 7:58 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.