Holland.

My good friend Eliza posted something on her blog the other day that I wanted to share. It's no secret that Eliza is one of my favorite people, as documented here and here. She and her young little family have been through more than a young little family should. One of her twin baby daughters, Lucy, is currently at Primary Children's Hospital with very serious heart complications. After three open heart surgeries and probably more to come, she has shown everyone what a strong and fighting spirit she has. Eliza and Chuck are amazing. I can't even imagine what going through such emotional harship must feel like, and yet they have the kind of faith that has been completely inspiring and humbling. And I know I don't have children, but I think this story Eliza posted on her blog relates to a lot of things in life, and I found it pretty profound for me at this point in my own.

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.


P.S. If you have a spare minute, please send a prayer or two up for Lucy, that her heart will be strong and that she will continue to be the little warrior that she is.