Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and I am sorry that my mother – Helen W. Leatherwood, Ph.D. – will not be present to see her granddaughter, Elizabeth, walk across the stage to receive her Juris Doctorate from Southwestern Law School. I will feel this way again next month when Rachael receives her Bachelor’s degree from UCLA, and next year, when Sarah is awarded her medical degree from the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. My mother, who went back to school when I was in 3rd grade, and slowly completed her Master’s in Sociology when I was in junior high and then her Doctorate in Psychology the year I graduated from high school (when she was 53) believed wholeheartedly that education was key to the empowerment of all people, but most especially for women. “Until women get themselves into positions where they can earn a decent wage,” she would say, “they will remain subservient to their male counterparts. Economic freedom is part of real personal freedom.”
My mother would be extremely pleased to see Elizabeth’s accomplishment and would be the first to applaud her willingness to aim high and work hard to achieve her goals. Mom, as a role model of the first order, would say, “Well done!” with a look of happiness on her face.
Thank you, Mom, for providing such a sterling example for the women in your life. Your willingness to stretch and grow now spans the generations and serves all of our family well now and in the years to come.
We will miss you tomorrow, but I know you will be there in spirit. After all, without you, this day might not have ever come.
Liz, Rachael and Mom at Liz’s 8th Grade Graduation, 1999.
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