I read this great story in People magazine that I know you’ll find inspirational too for your Mother’s Day weekend.   Abbey Curran (20) is the reigning Miss Iowa USA who competed in this year’s Miss USA pageant in April.  She’s got everything a Miss USA contestant would have, only she was also born with cerebral palsy, which forced her to wear leg braces until age 10 and limp, dragging her left foot behind her.  When she told her teachers that she wanted to be like the beauty contestants she saw on TV, they encouraged her to be realistic because she could never be like them.   Instead of discouraging her, the comments made her work harder to be what she wanted to be…and now, in addition to competing in the Miss USA pageant, she raises funds to hold the yearly “Little Miss You Can Do It” pageant for disabled little girls and young women, hoping it will inspire them to “be whatever they want to be.”  Says the beauty queen:

The biggest hurdle isn’t cerebral palsy.  It’s getting over what everyone else thinks.”

Now I’m not sure how you feel about beauty pageants, but I love this story because it shows that perseverance and believing in yourself are what really makes you shine.  Feeling good on the outside is great too, of course, which is why we love beauty products!!  But here’s Abbey Curran’s perspective, which I’m definitely taking with me from her very moving story!:

I believe it’s the heart that matters most, then I’ll worry about the hair.”

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