Michelle Obama shares Memories of Women who shaped her life in Powerful Essay for Mother’s Day

For Mother’s Day today, Michelle Obama has penned a powerful essay in People Magazine’s latest issue.

The online magazine has shared excerpts from the essay, as Michelle shares memories of her mom, Marian Robinson, and the women who shaped the extraordinary life of the girl from Chicago’s South Side who would grow up to be America’s First Lady.

She says:

In today’s world, it’s easy to hear all that and think that Marian Robinson was bordering on negligent, that she was letting the kids rule the roost. But the reality was far from that. She and my father, Fraser, were wholly invested in their children, pouring a deep and durable foundation of goodness and honesty, of right and wrong, into my brother and me. After that, they simply let us be ourselves.

… I see now how important that kind of freedom is for all children, particularly for girls with flames of their own — flames the world might try to dim. … It’s up to us, as mothers and mother-figures, to give the girls in our lives the kind of support that keeps their flame lit and lifts up their voices — not necessarily with our own words, but by letting them find the words themselves.

Read more excerpts here.

Photo Credit: LAWRENCE JACKSON via PEOPLE