Welcome to Holland `` Welcome to Holland '' is an essay , written in 1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley , about having a child with Down Syndrome , though it is applicable to many other birth defects , and is given by many hospitals and child-care professionals to new parents of special-needs children . The essay , written in the second person , employs a metaphor of excitement for a vacation to Italy that becomes a massive disappointment when the reader 's plane lands instead in 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 . `` The metaphor is that the trip to Italy is a typical birth and child-raising experience , and that the trip to Holland is the experiencing of having and raising a special-needs child . 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 . `` In the end , however , an effort is made to express that the `` trip '' is still well worth it : But ... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you did n't get to Italy , you may never be free to enjoy the very special , the very lovely things ... about Holland . A song was also written in 2004 by Will Livingston based loosely on the story . Also titled `` Welcome to Holland '' . You were set You had made all of your plans had the summer to yourself you were off to Paris , France Just to see A place you thought you 'd never be and from the history to the food right down to your parlez-vous But as the plane is touching down you start to look around and you do n't recognize this town and then you hear Welcome to Holland This may not be what you had planned but it 's where we had to land today we hope that you enjoy your stay in Holland And I know , I know , I know I 'll grow to understand The master 's plan right here in Holland You 've grown up You 've matured beyond those years set aside your foolish doubts cast away your childish fears And now a wife and soon a baby on the way momma 's got a month to go but that boy wo n't wait another day And as the doctors gather you around to tell you what they 've found your heart your heart nearly hit the ground But ai n't that the way life seems to go you look one way your going down another road Welcome to Holland This may not be what we had planned the cards just fell into our hands this way we are merely potter 's clay in Holland And I 've been here once before I learned that God has bigger things in store for us in Holland External links `` Welcome to Holland '' on the Down Syndrome web page `` Welcome to Holland '' on our-kids.org `` Welcome to Holland '' audio link on Broadjam web page Categories : Essays | 1987 works 