Instead of allowing that loss to define her, Dolly focused on her marriage, career, and close relationships with her nieces and nephews. She later reflected that having children might have changed the path her life and career ultimately took.
One of the most meaningful results of that path was her Imagination Library, which grew from a local literacy program into an international initiative that has provided hundreds of millions of books to children.
Dolly eventually came to believe that perhaps she was not meant to have children of her own so she could care about “everybody’s kids.” She transformed a painful disappointment into a lifelong commitment to helping children and families around the world.
