~Aloha......it's Carer's Week 2013......A Special Verse for Carers~

Last week it was Carer's Week and our local Council organized a special little lunchtime getaway for Carer's in the Shire......

Above are the steps to a property out-of-town Moruya called Cattinya

The property sits on about 32 acres and is an Eco Property

It sleeps approximately 32 people.......4 to a room and was built as an Education Centre

One of the girls was thinking what a fabulous place for a girly weekend

A bit or organization would be involved here as we are all caring for somebody

By the front steps

Verandah

And upon entering we were each presented with a lei

a little goody bag

and a Mocktail!!!

Part of the open area inside

One of the Hostesses Shaneane at the 'Bar'

I loved this green crepe paper cut into strips

Part of the lunch......Frittata......made by Gundary Store

View from one of the bedrooms

A seating area outside

And I had to take a selfie into this fabulous mirror!!!

Thanks so much to the Organizers........we all had a great time for a few hours!!!

Caring is a hard job......there are no sick days if you are sick.......no holiday

Hard if you have no family around

Caring is ongoing

This verse below written by a Mother beautifully describes our very own piece of Holland......

especially the last 2 verses

'Welcome to Holland' 

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 trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Colosseum, Michelangelo's David - the gondolas of 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 has been a change in the flight plan. They have landed in Holland, and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, filthy place, full of famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must buy new guidebooks. 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, 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 are 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 is what I had planned'.

The pain of that will never go away, because the loss of a 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.

Written by Emily Perl Kingsley......Mother of a Child with a Disability

No matter how many times I read this it still gets me every time and makes me all teary

I hope all Carers were treated out by somebody and were spoilt for a few hours......coffee......even a meal.......perhaps some respite while you had a massage, pedicure etc!!!

Hugs, Dzintra xo