"Chosen" Moms are Truly Blessed
By Erma Bombeck

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice. A few by social
pressures and a couple by habit.
This year, nearly 100,000 women will become the mothers of
handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped
children are chosen?
Somehow I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting his
instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he
observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.
"Armstrong, Beth; son; patron saint, Matthew. Forrest,
Marjorie; daughter; patron saint Cecelia. Rudledge, Carrie; twins;
patron saint... Give her Gerard, he's used to profanity."
Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles. "Give her a
handicapped child."
The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."
"Exactly." smiles God. "Could I give a handicapped child a
mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."
"But has she patience?" asks the angel.
"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown
in a sea of self-pity and despair. ONce the shock and resentment wears
off, she'll handle it."
"I watched her today. she has that feeling of self and
independence that is so rare, and so necessary in a mother. You see,
the child I'm going to give her has his own world. She has to make him
live in her world and that's not going to be easy."
"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."
God smiles. "No matter, I can fix that. This one is perfect.
She has just enough selfishness."
The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"
God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child
occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, ther is a woman whom I will
bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but
she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a 'spoken word.'
She will never consider a 'step' ordinary. When her child says 'Momma'
for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When
she describes a tree or a sunset to her blind child, she will see it as
few people ever see my creations."
"I will permit her to see clearly the htings I see---ignorance,
cruelty, prefudice---and allow her to rise above them. She will never
be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life
because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."
"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen
poised in mid-air.
God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."