Key Areas of work are the same now as they were then Fr James Nugent (1822-1905) Key Areas of work are the same now as they were then Nugent Adults Children Community

Welcome To Holland

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation …

To Italy!

You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make wonderful plans You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David and the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting!

The stewardess comes in and says, 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 for Italy! But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and I’m there to stay

It’s just a different place… The important thing to remember is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible disgusting place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place…

So now you must go and buy yourself a new guidebook….. And you have to learn a new language….

…and you’ll probably meet a whole new group of people that you would never have met before.

But after you have been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around and begin to notice that they have windmills, tulips ….

….and Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming from and going to Italy. They even brag about the wonderful time they are having there, and for the rest of your life you will say – Yes that’s where I was supposed to go

That’s what I planned… And the pain of that never goes 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 go to Italy…

…you will never be free to enjoy the very special and lovely things of Holland.

By Emily P Kingsley