My mother was in vaudeville, but after she had her children, she quit working.

My mother had early-onset Alzheimer's, and it took her four years to die. She was only 44; I was 14.

My mother raised three children on her own and my dad was a doctor working 16 hours a day.

My mother was a single working mother; she started having children very young. There was a tension inside her about who she wanted to be and what she wanted to do and how she couldn't achieve the things she wanted to.

My mother lived till she was 95 and never had a line on her face or a frown line. She was beautiful.

Fewer heterosexuals feel legally compelled to officially marry and more children are born outside of marriage's traditional terms. Some people may say that is a good thing. Some may say that it is not. That is simply a fact, and it is tragic that the notion of what is best for children gets so little discussion in this debate.