Help Laura raise money

Greetings family and friends,

Ok, so this summer there will be no ‘monkeying’ around…….  I will be training for the 2021 In-Person Falmouth Road Race. I am fundraising for the League School of Greater Boston, where my awesome son Patrick attends. Contributions will directly benefit all children at the League School.  

This past year has certainly been a challenge and many organizations were impacted financially; the League School was no different. In additional to a financial loss, the League School students were impacted with less access to job training and social activities. I saw the impact in my own son, he had some regression, felt sadness and isolation, and the overwhelming fear of the unknown.

Now that school is close to being back into full swing, I’m seeing the magic once again of the League School. The teachers and staff are truly amazing at what they do! Community trips were limited to driving adventures (holiday lights, nature), or walks in the park. Now they are expanding into the community; such a vital part of social development. New opportunities for on and off campus jobs are rising. Patrick loves going to ‘work’ and picking up extra shifts!

I appreciate any gift you can make, but equally important is your continued loving support to Patrick and our family. Also, a running buddy this summer would help.

I will sign off with a heartfelt thank you and share my favorite poem………

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Welcome To Holland
by: Emily Perl Kingsley

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 out 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....and 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 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.