“Welcome to Holland”
Hampton references this letter in which one mother uses an interesting metaphor to describe her feelings about raising a child with a disability.
WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
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.
Bloom author Kelle Hampton shares song lyrics with readers.
In chapter 4 of Bloom, Kelle Hampton shares the lyrics to this song by Sara Groves. Hampton’s sister shared the song with her shortly after she gave birth to Nella, who has Down Syndrome. It’s a beautiful song and the lyrics are very inspirational; quite fitting for what the author was going through at that time in her life.
2014 Indie Fever Reading Challenge
I have decided to participate in the 2014 “Indie Fever Reading Challenge.” I will be participating at the amateur level which means that my goal may be to read anywhere between 1 and 24 self-published books. For this challenge, I will be aiming to read 15 self-published books each by a different author during the year of 2014.
Click here for details about the 2014 Indie Fever reading challenge!
See List Below:
1. Entangled by Nikki Jefford √
2. Shine not Burn by Elle Casey
3. And all the Stars by Andrea K. Host
4. The Edge of Darkness by Lissa Bilyk
5. True Love Story by Willow Aster
6. Scriber by Ben S. Dobson
7. The Impact of You by Kendall Ryan
8. Wishing for Someday Soon by Tiffany King
9. The 19 Dragons by S.M. Reine
10. No One’s Angel by Kelly Walker√
11. Now or Never by A.J. Bennett√
12. Blind Obsession by Ella Frank
13. Safe Word by Teresa Mummert
14. Knotted Roots by Ruthi King√
15. Shattered by Elizabeth Lee
Check back soon for my reviews and updates on my progress!
Bookshelf Bonanza 