Pull-Ups Part 2

So I'm becoming an expert on the ingredients in Pull-Ups.  Our toilet still holds the contents of the flushing fiasco earlier in the week.  And as I sit here now taking a break from frantically packing for a week-long trip to NC, I am waiting for my final load of laundry to dry.  The load that is actually covered in lovely white lint and sticky goo - yes, folks, all from a washed Pull-Up.

As I sit hear waiting to hopefully be able to shake off the nastiness and rewash my clothes, I cannot help but think about how this latest incident compares to our lives.  We move about our lives unassuming, expecting that all will go as we plan.  We expect that our families will be healthy, our homes will be peaceful -- we expect that all will be beautiful.  Then, WHAM,,,out of nowhere we are thrown a curve ball.  The car won't start, the kids get sick...one of our children gets diagnosed with a life-changing disorder.  Life suddenly isn't what we planned.  Our once beautiful life is suddenly covered with white lint and sticky goo.

Over the past several months I have reflected so much on how our life is different than what we planned.  But isn't everyone's?  I mean, don't we all deflect curve balls each and every day (or so it seems!).  It is hard not to be sad when things in our lives don't turn out the way we thought they might.  It is hard not to mourn, even, for what we thought it would be.

When we first got Cade's diagnosis someone sent me a copy of a poem called, "Welcome to Holland."  It talks about saving your entire life for a trip to Italy.  You have bought all of the guide books, learned the language -- you've been ready for this trip your entire life.  The plane finally lands and you suddenly hear, "Welcome to Holland!"  WHAT?!  But this isn't what was supposed to happen...this isn't the right trip.  This certainly isn't what you planned for - what you expected. 

But you soon learn that there are great things in Holland.  The flowers are beautiful, the land is gorgeous, and the language is beautiful.  Holland isn't Italy - it is not what you expected - but it is certainly great.  It just moves at a slower pace than Italy.  And though you may never forget how much you wanted to go to Italy, and even still miss all that you thought you would experience there, without the change in venue you would have never experienced all of the wonderful things about Holland.  (read the entire poem at http://users.erols.com/jmatts/welcome%20to%20holland.html)

So...although our life is sometimes covered in sticky goo - it may not be what we expected as parents - we have the joy of experiencing such treasures in our little boy that we would have never experienced without this opportunity to be his mom and dad.  And no matter what I am thankful for that each and every day - sticky goo and all!