Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons! ************ "Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are." **************
"A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world." --Paul Dudley White
************ "Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired." - George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian
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 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…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 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.
28 comments:
What great family pics...the older my sister and I get, the more we look alike. My Dad cant tell us apart on the phone...lol. Happy WW.
Nice pics you got there. Everyone looks similar to one or more of your relatives. :)
nice photos, what a happy family..blessings! happy WW!
mine is up too and here also Jhoaniquing
Oh how neat! Great shots (you so can see the genetics)!
what great pics!! And amazingly similar. Thanks for sharing that. happy WW.
Nice to see your family ! There is certainly some similitude amongst all of them.
Beautiful photos! :)
wonderful family pictures. very precious and priceless moments!
ok,I did not cry at all Monday, but I sure did today looking at all those pictures. Great WW (and not just cause my picture is in there 4 times)
Great sequence of beautiful people!
great series of photos and what a good looking and happy family you have - all those warm smiles.
What a great group of photos! The family resemblance is amazing! Happy WW!
Wonderful Wordless Wednesday.
Oh, what a great set of pictures, love your take for a ww
It amazes me how similar people really can look. It'll be interesting to see who our kids resemble some day.
Wow, those are some great family photos! Happy WW :)
S and your brother look so much alike! Your nieces are so cute!
ok.. that kind of creepy in a sense... but cool how people really look alike.. Anyways Happy WW
I had been thinking of doing something like this too. Great idea for WW. Have a wonderful day!
what great family photos. The resembaances are so clear. Happy WW
I see a lot of the same smiles. :-)
I used to hate it when people told me I looked just like my mom...now if I can look like her when I'm 82...I'll be very happy!
Those are beautiful pictures :)
Magnificent set on genetics! (You have a huge family!)
Genetics can be awesome, can't it!
that was fun!
i love to see the "genes"!
that was fun!
i love to see the "genes"!
OMG! I love this idea! it is fabulous!
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