Wendy Walker Whitworth is one of those invisible forces who shapes our view of the world. As executive vice president of CNN and senior executive producer of Emmy-winning Larry King Live for the last thirteen years, she routinely lands exclusive interviews with newsmakers from every corner of celebrity-land, including Nancy Reagan, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, the late John F. Kennedy Jr., Oprah Winfrey and every living U.S. president. Apart from her stellar celebrity-wrangling skills, Wendy has brought a broad scope to Larry King Live, heightening the impact of what might have been a limited talk show format. In 1995, for example, the show portrayed the Middle East peace process through interviews with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. During the 2003 war in Iraq, Wendy produced live shows for 29 consecutive days. Three generations of the Bush family gathered to talk on Larry King during the 2004 Republican National Convention.

    Wendy never envisioned a working life. After growing up in Iowa and graduating from Hollins College, she was supposed to get married. "But that didn't happen," she says. So, in 1975 she set out with four friends and a $40 grubstake from her father to find a job in Washington D.C. In a stint at Brooks Brothers, where she was a top selling clerk, she discovered her competitive streak. While working as Ethel Kennedy's personal secretary she helped with a televised celebrity tennis tournament and found her direction: television production. At 24, she says, "I thought, Well, my life is half over. I'm making this career decision at a very late age." But she forged ahead. After landing the second job she applied for at ABC in Washington, she started work on the same day as Katie Couric, who became a good friend. Wendy logged videotapes, worked on Sundays and pitched in wherever she was needed at ABC. Then her boss, George Watson, recruited her to join him in a move to CNN, a new channel which proposed to produce 24 hours a day of news. For the next thirteen years she roamed the White House, and then the globe, as once-scorned CNN gradually gained the respect of its peers. She joined Larry King Live in 1993.

    Married just before she turned 40, Wendy was eager to start a family. When she failed to get pregnant, she embarked on the agonizing process of having a child through in vitro fertilization at 41. The letter below is written to herself at this stage, before her children, Amaya, 10, and Walker, 8, entered her life.

Dear Wendy,

    I know this has been a difficult few years for you. I am sure you thought that since your body seemed so fit and young on the outside, everything on the inside was going to work, too. And I know the disappointment you feel every time you find out it didn't work. I know how you always just expected to get pregnant. You never thought if, you only thought when. I know you wanted to run home and say those two words: "I'm pregnant."

    You wanted to watch your stomach grow and laugh about the foods that made you sick and those you just craved and had to go out and get at 11:30 at night. You wanted to rush to the hospital and have your baby placed on your chest. You wanted to cry with joy and love for a little creature that was yours. And right now that doesn't look like it is going to happen, does it?

    I saw your sadness at Christmas when it didn't happen. And I heard your heart break when your sweet doctor called again with the news that it is unlikely you will carry a child. I remember the night you finally said you could not go through the process again and I know you felt so alone.

    I want to take this pain away for you. I hate to see you so sad.

    I want to tell you that not getting pregnant will be the best thing that ever happens to you. It is a profound gift from the best energy in the universe. The stars will line up perfectly to bring you your gifts.

    You will receive two amazing children, a boy and a girl. You will be with your daughter when she is born. She will be as beautiful inside as she is out. All the nurses will say she is the most beautiful baby they have ever seen. She will laugh like you and pout like you. She will have the spirit of an angel and the gentleness of a colt. Everyone will love her because her heart is so pure. She will be kind to everyone and you will not hear an unkind word spoken about her.

    She will be embarrassed when you dance in the car while driving her to school and she will come to you when she has a private question. You will be so happy you didn't get pregnant. Because this child will fill your life so full of love that you will thank God every day that somehow it was just meant to be. She was meant to be yours.

    And then you will be brought another little soul, this time a boy. You will be with him, too, when he is born. He will look just like you. And he will cling to you. He will not stop running. In fact he will go from crawling to running. He will never walk. He will make you laugh every day and people will stop you on the street to talk to him. He will be a puzzle you will spend hours trying to put together. He will entertain you, challenge you and be such a joy in your life. You will listen to his stories about dinosaurs over and over again. You will sing him to sleep while he has both arms around you.

    There is a beautiful saying about adopted children, which is they don't come from your stomach they come from your heart. He is your heart. You will love him with everything you have and you will forget the pain you have now. Because you will thank God every day that somehow it was just meant to be. He was meant to be yours.

    You won't even remember this time in your life very much because it will be so overcome by happiness with these children. This is happening to you for a reason. You will forever be grateful that you didn't get pregnant because if you had, you would not have them. And they are your loves and your spirit. So tonight go to sleep and dream about these two babies and soon they will be in your arms. The angels will bring them to you. It was meant to be. I promise.

Love,

Wendy