Life in Holland: Happiness

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Happiness

Not much to say here except that this was a fabulous Christmas. Christmas Eve night Anna slept in her own bed all night without waking up. That in and of itself was a Christmas miracle! Before going to bed she kept telling me to get home faster (from my great grandmother's house) "cos Santa Kauz es comin." Carly was so excited and had a lot of trouble falling asleep. The kids were of course spoiled rotten by us and everyone else. They were very good about saying "thank you" to everyone without prompting from us which made me feel like we are doing something right. Santa brought Carly a bike and the radio she wanted. He brought Anna her tricycle and TMX Elmo. They got a ton of other stuff, too. It looks like Toys R US vomited all over our living room. It is so funny what their favorite things end up being. Carly loved this Build-A-Bear that she was able to stuff and sew herself. Anna loved her Elmo sippy cups that Carly bought for her. Things were so laid back this year and for that I am so thankful. The rushing around stresses me out and it was nice to not have to do it this year. I hope your holiday was just as nice...

1 comment:

AnonymousDecember 26, 2010 at 10:43 PM
We've had a very nice Christmas also. I'm enjoying reading blog posts of happy holidays tonight. Thank you for yours. Sorry to read you have so much pelvic pain with your pregnancy. Was PT ever considered? I like SureSteps, too. Good product and very helpful for many children. Barbara
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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.