This i believe: on motherhood (hardback) On Motherhood

Praise For This I Believe: On Motherhood

'It is a one-of-a-kind connection. The mother-child bond is not necessarily a product of the birth process. It is a product of love and caring, time and commitment, patience and teaching, enjoying the good times and working through the hard times.'
*Beth Beery

'I believe in calling your mother. No matter where you are, no matter what you are doing, a phone call to your mother will make the world seem less daunting and help you feel stronger.'
*Suzanne Biemiller

'I did not give birth to Trenton, but I love him as a mother would. I believe that being a mother is more than biology, being a mother is a state of mind.'
*Jennifer Smith

'When my daughter was born, one of my many fears was that raising a child with Down syndrome would diminish my experience of parenthood, that this would be a less joyful kind of mothering. It is not.'
*Beth Crawford

'There are few things that have been around since the beginning of time. Birth is the beginning of time. For me, it is a great metaphor for all that is still mysterious and magnificent in the world.'
*Geeta Maker-Clark, MD

Evolution (Lauren LeBlanc)

Do What You Have to Do (KimAnn Schultz)

Grabbing the Baton (Julie Sellers)

You Can"t Always Get What You Want (Kate Searle)

Visitor at the Table (Maya Christobel)

The Power of Parenthood (Andrea Coleman)

Call Your Mother (Suzanne Biemiller)

Fighting for Motherland (Susan Monas)

My Mother"s Gifts (Alizon Kiel)

Monster Juice (Lisa Tucker McElroy)

Tell the Children (Patty Dann)

The Comfort in Rituals (Carol Lathrop)

The Simple Joys of Life (Kris Hansen)

The Buddha Bean (Beth Crawford)

The Bond Between Mother and Child (Beth Beery)

On the Same Page (Robin Fitzgerald)

The Real Measure of a Life Well Lived (Annie Azzariti)

The Courage of One Woman (Lien Pham)

The Juice Box Mom (Candance Gordon)

The Wisdom of Children (Patricia Battaglia)

The Gravity of Love (Eleanor Vincent)

A Bountiful Harvest (Kathrine Leone Wright)

It Takes a Mother's Love (Bruce Rankin)

A Matter of One's Perspective (Josephine Guido)

Putting Myself First (Sheri Weinberg)

Listen to Your Mother-in-Law (Judi Russell)

A Mother's Love (Jennifer Smith)

I Can Make Time (Lily Llamzon Darais)

Our Children (Haydeh Takasugi)

Being Yourself (Carolyn Williamson)

We Are Optimists (Angela West)

Hope Dished Out in Plenty (David E. Cowen)

Saviors (Lisa Holmes)

Raising Kane (Shannon Blady)

Mom"s Everyday Advice (Lea Cassel Matthews)

Mother and Me (Jamie Lemke-Barrand)

Considering Adoption (Susie M. Green)

The Eternal Sunshine (Traci Higgins)

Don"t Tell Me How Rocky the Sea Is-Just Bring in the Ship (Christine Jarvis)

Simple Saturdays (Stefanie Wass)

Memories of Lessons Learned (Mary Lou Hurley)

A Parent at Home (Lisa Crystal)

Expect to Have Enough (Jodi Ackerman Frank)

The Transformative Power of Letting Go (Mary Lacy Porter)

My Mother Is Beautiful (Kelsey Morgan)

The Gift (Keri Freeburg)

My Mother"s Eggplant (Vijaya Bodach)

Dancing to the Music (Amanda Joseph-Anderson)

The Flaw-Free Body (Kikki Short)

Some Things to Know About Your Mother (Anne Donahue)

A Sacred Gift (Alice Roche Cody)

Motherhood Is Real (Wendy Lawrence)

Miracle from Within (Geeta Maker-Clark, MD)

The Essential Gift of Childhood (Marla Rose)

Heaven Is Now (Amy Miller)

Words Can Heal the Heart of a Mother (Lynda Sentz)

The Second-Hardest Job (Tina Boscha)

Bessie Mae: Nobody Famous (Michael Taylor)

Pieces of Me (Kimberly Trevisani)

Am I Doing This Right? (Jeana Lee Tahnk)

Appendix: How to Write Your Own This I Believe Essay

Acknowledgments

Dan Gediman is executive director of This I Believe, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that engages people in writing and sharing essays describing the core values that guide their daily lives. These short statements of belief have been featured on public radio since 2005. Gediman is coeditor of the New York Times best seller This I Believe, as well as several other books in the series, including This I Believe: On Fatherhood.

John Gregory is editorial director and Mary Jo Gediman is outreach director of This I Believe, Inc.