John — This Mother’s Day, I want to share a story about my mom.

I was in the 7th grade and I had the chickenpox.

I thought it was going to be a vacation from school, but soon it got really bad.

It was the worst case my doctor had seen. It felt like I had thousands of needles sticking into my skin everywhere.

I was in an oatmeal bath as my mom was getting ready to leave for a business trip, and I was feeling M I S E R A B L E.

Then suddenly, my mom stops, and I look at her. She looks at me in that oatmeal bath, and I give her the most melodramatic statement I ever uttered in my early life:

“MOM, if you LEAVE me, I’ll DIE.”

My mom looked at me in that oatmeal bath. She knew chickenpox was not fatal, that I would be fine. But she put down her bags, went to the phone, had a conversation with someone, came back, changed out of her business clothes into her sweats — and stayed with me.

I knew in that moment that I was my mother’s priority, and I was loved.

As I would grow older (and more sophisticated), my mom — an HR manager — would tell me that what she was able to do, all women aren’t able to do.

All women love their children, but don’t have jobs that enable them to take off when their child is sick with the chickenpox.

She says that we need to be a country where all mothers have that kind of flexibility.

To all moms out there who struggle in a nation that has not done enough to empower people to raise their children, the struggle continues. We will continue to press on, together.

Today, to all Herculean moms and mother figures of every kind: I wish you a happy Mother’s Day.

With love and gratitude,

Cory