For many, many years I couldn’t understand why I never had the instinct to want to have children of my own. I carried a shame in my heart around that for a very long time. It wasn’t until I was in my early 40s and Frankie became paralyzed that I realized God had other plans for me.

Frankie becoming paralyzed wasn’t my choice either. It was hard to imagine how my life would change when the prognosis came when she was six years old that she would likely never walk again. Caring for her would be somewhat like caring for an infant child. It seemed cruel and unfair to me that I was being handed this challenge.

It wasn’t my choice to be a Mom or to have a paralyzed dog, but reflecting back on that today I have absolutely no doubt this was how my life was to play out. As hard as it was to imagine how I would take care of Frankie after her paralysis, it was harder yet to imagine what blessings would come of it.

It wasn’t my choice to be a Mom or have a paralyzed dog, but it was my choice to look for the blessing in the challenge that lay ahead with Frankie in a wheelchair. It was my choice to follow my heart and write Frankie’s story and share her with young children. That choice led me to realizing God’s bigger plan for me which was being a mentor to thousands of children.  Though I’ll never remember all their names, I’ll forever carry all of them in my heart. A part of each child I have met along the way because of Frankie will always be with me.

So on this Mother’s Day I no longer carry a shame in my heart, but give thanks for the Mom’s who were meant to be, and for the unfolding of my life as it was meant to be.