Celebrate all the mamas! Today and every day!

I got sixteen years with my Mama. I miss her, and I wish she could see who I’ve grown to be in the last six years, and meet all the incredible people who have come into my life.

I’m not the only one who wishes she could be with her Mama today.  This year, Strong Families is honoring the realities of millions of mothers and families who don’t mirror the “traditional nuclear family,” and working to celebrate all kinds of families, and ensure they have access to the rights, recognition, and resources.  Most American households don’t consist of a heterosexual married couple with biological children.  Families look differently than that, for all sorts of reasons.  We all have our Mamas, biological or chosen, who have nurtured us, comforted us, and helped us grow.  They all deserve recognition and celebration, and all families deserve the rights, recognition, and resources to thrive.

There are a lot of other mamas in my life: my grandmothers, my wonderful Auntie, the mamas I worked with at Derechos Humanos in Tucson, the professors who have nurtured my intellectual growth at Vassar, and the mamas who have raised the amazing people I get to call my friends.  I am so lucky to have these amazing women surrounding me, and the memory of my own Mama to carry with me, wherever I go.

Happy Mama’s Day to all!