I'm grateful that I get to be their mother

I want to thank my parents for somehow raising me to have confidence that is disproportionate with my looks and abilities.

Those men and women are fortunate who are born at a time when a great struggle for human freedom is in progress. It is an added good fortune to have parents who take a personal part in the great movements of their time. I am glad and thankful that this was my case. (Ch 1)

I was raised to have great parents, and I was raised to believe that I had power, as big or small as it was. It was there and it was to be utilized. That’s something that I want a lot of women to get the opportunity to feel.

That motherhood bit eh! These children! But we thank God for them. Here, na me be their house girl(laughs).It’s so annoying, but then it gives you the opportunity to be with your children, to know your children.

I feel overwhelmingly grateful to them, but I don't know what to do with their invisible gifts.

[My mother] saw it as part of her mission to keep my cockiness in check. I'm grateful for that now...We now live in an age when parents praise every child as a genius

I have parents who love me for me and at the end of the day, I know they don't think what I'm doing is right because they're African at the end of the day. But they love me and that's what it is.

I mean, mom guilt, it’s not just for me,” Faris said of her book’s subjects. “80-90 percent of mothers suffer from some level of mom guilt. And it’s just never feeling like we’re enough, like we’re never present enough, we’re not a good enough mom. We’re always projecting some sort of guilt upon ourselves. And so much of that is because in America motherhood isn’t really celebrated and there’s not a lot of support for being a mother.”

Our mother is coming home and we are so grateful and so thankful that this is happening.

Other people's parents are often a delight.

My family has grounded and groomed me into the woman that I am. My siblings and I have parents who continuously support us through our little endeavors. They listen to my music all the time and that reassures me each time.

"To let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen; to love with our whole hearts, even though there's no guarantee — and that's really hard, and I can tell you as a parent, that's excruciatingly difficult — to practice gratitude and joy in those moments of terror, when we're wondering, "Can I love you this much? Can I believe in this this passionately? Can I be this fierce about this?" just to be able to stop and, instead of catastrophizing what might happen, to say, "I'm just so grateful, because to feel this vulnerable means I'm alive." And the last, which I think is probably the most important, is to believe that we're enough. Because when we work from a place, I believe, that says, "I'm enough," then we stop screaming and start listening, we're kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we're kinder and gentler to ourselves."

I was so thankful that my parents trusted me enough and had enough faith in my abilities to let me follow my passion and try to do something great, even if I might fail.