No Regrets
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tap into Your Inner Strength
By Vicki Schoen

Your greatest contribution may not be something you do but someone you raise.
~Author Unknown

I can still picture the day seven years ago when Mary Ellen grabbed my hand and said, “Grandma, don’t ever leave me.” She followed me around the house, never letting me out of her sight. When I sat, she sat in my lap. Her parents were preoccupied with an illness my husband and I had yet to acknowledge for what it was, and she had asked to come home with us. She was two years old.

The situation in her home got better after a time, so she went back.

Three years later, my husband and I became her legal guardians. So, we gave up the fun of being grandparents and took on the hard job of parenting a child who was hurting in ways I’ve never known. A child who was angry because her family was torn apart. A child who couldn’t understand why. A child who had to grow up too fast. (Keep reading)