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(a text received by email from Caroline)
Nothing left to say ... about the reason for sharing this with you. (I would love to sign it, but it's not from me...)
The mother of a handicapped child says : "I am often asked to describe what it is like to have a handicapped child, so I can help people who don't know this unique experience to understand, to imagine what I would be like. So here !
Everything starts with the pregnancy and the desire to have a child. But expecting a child is a bit like organizing a fabulous trip - to Italy for example -.
You buy lots of guides, you make beautiful projects : the coliseum, Micheal-Angelo's David, the gondolas in Venice. You learn a couple of sentences in Italian. This is all very exciting.
After months of intense preparation, D-Day arrives. You pack your bags and leave.
A few hours later, the plane lands. The pilot tells you : "Welcome to Holland!"
"Holland ? ... but I signed up for Italy".
Your whole life, you have dreamed of going to Italy ! But no can do : "There has been a change in your flight plan. You landed in Holland, and you'll have to stay here".
Thank god they didn't ship you to some horrible and disgusting place though... It's simply a different place.
So you need to buy new guides, learn a new language. You start meeting a lot of people you would never have met otherwise. In the end, it's really just a different place. The rythm of life is slower here than in Italy. It's also less exhuberating. And after staying there for a while, you realize there are windmills, tulips, and even Rembrandt's...
But everybody you know goes to Italy and they all rejoice in the good times they have there. So, are you going to tell yourself for the rest of your life : "That is where I wanted to go as well !
That was the plan..." ? Indeed, it will always make you feel sad, because the loss of that dream is a significant one. But if you cry for the rest of your life over the fact that you didn't get to go to Italy, you will never be able to appreciate every beautiful and special thing in Holland.
And Holland is indeed such a beautiful country..."
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