Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Different Trips to the Same Place

We received this at an adoption seminar and it just seemed so perfect. I wanted to share it with everyone.


Different Trips to the Same Place

Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia. You’ve heard it’s a wonderful place. You’ve read many guidebooks and feel certain you’re ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.

So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you’ll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait-and wait- and wait.

Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, “Relax. You’ll get on a flight soon.” Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, “It’s not fair”.

After a long time the ticket agent tells you, “I’m sorry, we’re not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat.”

“By Boat!” you say, “Going by boat will take a very long time and costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane.” So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat.

It is a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three times, marveling about each trip.

Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite that you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than by air.

People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are able to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, “Oh be glad you didn’t fly. My flight was horrible, traveling by sea is so easy.”

You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you get there, but in the place itself.
Author unknown

3 comments:

steph said...

That's a beautiful piece. Don't get bogged down by the trials and tribulations that have come your way... Just think of how much you will enjoy your daughter!!

Take Care

Heather said...

Alicia,

You don't know me but our husbands work together. Your blog entry titled "Different Trips to the Same Place" is beautiful. We have a beautiful 22 month old daughter from China, who is wonderful. I know you have heard it before and you are probably sick of hearing it (I know I was) but the wait is SOOO worth it. We were matched with the perfect child. We are now paperchasing for our second daughter from China. We will most likely wait 24 months but I am ok with that...again I know that child too will be perfect for our family. Wishing a speedy referral!!!

Heather Wells
www.abigailmae-xiao.blogspot.com
www.journeytokaylyn.blogspot.com

Journey to Mia Lynn: said...

That is one of the most beautiful things that I have ever read~

Jen P.