Marlene, ever since you wrote that comment, my mind has been working like a beaver. Before now, I honestly and truly had not connected my mother’s struggle as a single-working-parent in the ‘50s and ‘60s with the right to protect and provide for her children. She was not fighting for women’s rights because she wanted a bigger paycheck. She was fighting for the right to protect and provide for her children. Back then, those rights belonged entirely to men – and in many ways, they still do.

Thanks to women before me, including my mother, I’d gained the right to go to college, build a career, and establish financial independence. And yet, when I became a single parent, I discovered, that I did not have the right to protect my children or provide for them any better than my mother had.

My word Marlene, what a gift you’ve given me. Understanding is priceless. Thank you is not nearly enough, but it is all I have to offer.