There is a short essay called
"Welcome to Holland" which is meant to comfort a parent who has
recently received information that their child has some type of developmental
disability. The premise is that you have booked a trip to Italy, but your plane
was re-routed to Holland. You miss the idea of Italy, the culture of Italy may
always be a mystery with its own language and art -- but Holland is stunning
itself. Beautiful but different.
When we first understood that things with Beatrix may not go well someone sent me this essay. It was welcome as an affirmation of the life I was embarking on -- the life I assumed included a child with Down Syndrome -- because whenever there's a problem in pregnancy, that's the "worst" that could happen, right?
