By the time Emma Murphy learned that a drug she took to manage epilepsy could harm babies in the womb, her daughter Lauren had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She co-founded In-Fact (the Independent Fetal Anti- Convulsant Trust) to prevent other families from being victimized by a scandal deemed bigger than thalidomide. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/22/the-mothers-fighting-a-scandal-bigger-than-thalidomide-we-were-told-the-medication-was-safe (Janet Williams and Emma Murphy, co-founders of In-Fact, to support other parents of children affected by sodium valproate. Photograph: Annie Challenger/The Guardian)

Judge Deborah Lukens was a single mother raising two daughters on a lot of peanut butter and noodles. Her daughter, Judge Jodi Griffis, went the same law school as her mother, and Judge Lukens presented her daughter to the bar. They are the only mother and daughter serving on the bench in Pennsylvania at the same time, and now Judge Lukens is turning over her gavel to her daughter as Montgomery County Magisterial District Judge.

Twenty-four-year-old Grace Szymchack had planned to graduate on Friday, December. 15, and have a C-section to deliver her baby, Annabelle, on Monday, December. 18. Those plans changed when Annabelle came early on December. 6. But Szymchack had no intention of missing commencement. "I’d worked hard for this degree, and I was determined to walk with the rest of my class," she said, "so I just brought her to graduation with me." Szymchack received her bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education with ten-day-old Annabelle tucked inside her graduation gown. "I hope to see her walk across the stage one day too," said Szymchack, "whichever college or university she chooses....without me having to carry her." www.abc10.com/article/news/local/woman-graduates-with-baby-ferris-state/69-d866a3d4-77a0-4782-829c-96a2930d60ce?tag1=kxtvshare(http://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/woman-graduates-with-baby-ferris-state/69-d866a3d4-77a0-4782-829c-96a2930d60ce?tag1=kxtvshare) Photo credit: Ferris State/Andrew Schmidt

Chrystal Audet and her daughter Cierra live in their car near Seattle, Washington--two of the thousands of "mobile homeless." Ms. Audet earns over $72,000 a year as a social worker for the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. But with bad luck and debt, it is too little to afford rent and too much to receive government assistance. In the evening, mother and daughter deliver food for extra money and eat dinner in a parking lot off the roof of their car. Six miles from the public restroom where they shower are the homes of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. New York Times article(https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/realestate/car-homeless-rent-debt-mortgage.html?unlocked_article_code=n6J3nh4aY90yslkcqEwNFXSKgD07vc4zxT1Wg-i5BhPXIHvo22o6kBYIZj_tTZU0_yVbMnAbRX-NhhvLSmdr7D4J4VTseUIVTz4i-WT2MK2XOForQyKYHeXVLcKYZ_UawC2C_sSBK55Yc3DVpwFxOLE3psKGTicRAfEFK8TDT7EudN8rkpKpzTJ1MbZVqTkISGwhouP81-l7622Qv_44guVAdnAlyrWBy7x23vflmFMMjvmKaGUMimqKSxksVkNB1AOsKiGasa01Y62x4p432ik1DZARoV1tLU1mfJbxDFGCh3aA2umNP58Eqky_TO7TIH15kDCGy0uabeA-eRyi8N9antPNoAaoHQ9DiQ&smid=url-share) Photo: Ruth Fremson

Former Russian state-run TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who has been living in exile in Paris with her daughter, was sentenced in abstentia (https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-tv-journalist-2c6cfa2b0c8761119aaf354de084a7f7)to eight and a half years in prison for protesting Russia's war against Ukraine. After staging a protest near the Kremlin in July, 2022, holding a sign that said, "Putin is a killer.... How many more children need to die for you to stop?" she was placed under house arrest but escaped with her daughter. She had also interrupted a broadcast by holding a sign behind the anchorwoman about Russian propaganda.

In October, 2021, Mary McCarthy and her then ten-year-old daughter Moira were stopped at Denver International Airport, having just arrived for the funeral of Ms. McCarthy's brother, who had died suddenly, and were told that they had been reported for "suspicious behavior": human trafficking. Ms. McCarthy is white. Moira is Black. "I know about racial profiling," said Ms. McCarthy, "and I know that 'suspicious' is a code word for minority." In August, 2023, she filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines.(https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/07/travel/southwest-airlines-lawsuit-racial-profiling-maccarthy.html?unlocked_article_code=xqEAWy0CRsmmykS6bedFzNSusNQgFc2NpdzE_clBYZez_2L5q_qz0lgQrq8jzg8vIxdQ3TNVWIOxXkw_alz7iJYmJ4Lupu8iPagMMdp80ZE68ZjoBqp7oPRp-VIaKjlKxDI63qCo9SLUO3xv4Ahm9anawGV4D6yo5j5pf5As5UQD2Na4VETPy7OIz088LjKyy9BIXpxqh_nXLAzglgvQWHc2Uvb-g5VYyYeHMZ26BgzcSul8tOiAsN7fjKf5XogurPokVD2FE4OnDyVEnMy0ztljhuK6TSdxm1mvWGGEWSq60ljO1fyImJvaVdesjnqSNHMc9SqY7-QEWfGJpBc1ED56N7JWXrh9mnp7JYS75z0w7RkJo_NmX0yeNNhRFw&smid=url-share)

Karen Rodriguez was kidnapped by Mexico’s Zeta cartel. Her mother would stop at nothing to find out exactly what happened to her. Read here.(https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/24/world/americas/miriam-rodriguez-mexico-cartel-zeta.html?unlocked_article_code=ikXLuRjvbiGE3inBpxhUftbCbm5xtIFqg__H_9DnRHo6uKtNfN1ErPoUoQaDQUGS10C22ieGbvq3zi6sKjURvSblJsR50iay2I1MTKRLLsqyPDNR_SpabWr_xeesV0Tcgir3Aw6aarod1Q3UCQsDpkdJzPBhSFbRAKvgJAsFTxZ55OT0z_XWi-fS4YrpBamx9uwpLy8FI4ixt1CuXBC01BLQYZFHQ0KcoIHN-H3roO45eLOToXKUZzSxbcaPWTYlW6Xd1EwWqEfs3GpCNW1GgJawwesK1zD5uL6G1LBwj-eEGCy0hrZw4V9RNWSeF_fzlrK_c_jVWzpOpBuegn4IkVguTwXIhI0kKwQAkZf8r5K77xpH&smid=url-share)

by Sarah Wildman "In Jewish tradition, a child who loses a parent is required to say Kaddish, the mourner’s prayer, every day for 11 months, and the community recognizes you as an avel, a mourner, all that year.....But as a parent who has lost a child, as I did this spring, when my 14-year-old daughter, Orli, died, you are on your own." The New York Times(https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/opinion/finding-beauty-after-death-loss.html?unlocked_article_code=8q-AxUBnpqnBXrrAKpbR3l72SnfGygbCjTNzXGpB2H4IQ0Ot6nPO2-uTX_HwE_VXg0FFrTQjn9GpvJQwykyyLhT2gniPMLun00jOlCLwqd33ooaqcMUvAb1RX_0O_Z2HqTr9kJ-X41L6nxINL0I9SMGhFTiJxkYqj0iuR4o0hqGS2tnkGoTSQjTGqDvxjdTM6cDL-TAL54sw7YhS7yCLKExLTGszsIUyp2QyZLV6hEbcDnFUYUTksJkQ7BZWHfZV0a3ZUobnQ3-Pn8zA5wgNP6CV_VxA_ywpQIsOyuZF2sgeDCFuPPDgKy0ISifSP1VZZnu_OJwJlm7Hn2_CWl76sf1sIzqLRLSkAg&smid=url-share) (Karlotta Frier)

Mother and daughter Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers are the first mother and daughter to go into space, after winning places on Virgin Galactic's civilian space crew.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=npSDM26xlzs

Arianna Miskin determined help her mother, Susan Miskin, a retired New York City public-school teacher, get $92,000 in student loans canceled--a debt that was older than Arianna. www.nytimes.com/2023/05/13/your-money/parents-student-loans-forgiveness.html

10. Steel Magnolias 9. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood 8. Freaky Friday 7. Imitation of Life 6. Mommie Dearest 5. The Good Mother 4. Lovely and Amazing 3. Sense and Sensibility 2. Terms of Endearment 1. Mildred Pierce

(www.youtube.com/watch?v=npSDM26xlzs) Welcome to the end of being alone inside your mind You're tethered to another and you're worried all the time You always knew the melody but you never heard it rhyme She's fair and she is quiet, Lord, she doesn't look like me She made me love the morning, she's a holiday at sea The New York streets are as busy as they always used to be But I am the mother of Evangeline The first things that she took from me were selfishness and sleep She broke a thousand heirlooms I was never meant to keep She filled my life with color, canceled plans, and trashed my car But none of that was ever who we are Outside of my windows are the mountains and the snow I hold you while you're sleeping and I wish that I could go All my rowdy friends are out accomplishing their dreams But I am the mother of Evangeline And they've still got their morning paper and their coffee and their time And they still enjoy their evenings with the skeptics and the wine Oh, but all the wonders I have seen, I will see a second time From inside of the ages through your eyes You are not an accident where no one thought it through The world has stood against us, made us mean to fight for you And when we chose your name we knew that you'd fight the power too You're nothing short of magical and beautiful to me Oh, I'll never hit the big time without you So they can keep their treasure and their ties to the machine 'Cause I am the mother of Evangeline

www.cbsnews.com/video/when-the-system-fails-families-may-pay-the-ultimate-price/

Nichol Naranjo says she was destined to own the house that was a refuge, “a place to come and catch our breath. And to dream.” Margaret Gaxiola, left, was once the housekeeper of the home that her daughter Nichol Naranjo, right, bought in 2020. Photo credit: John Burcham for The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/realestate/housekeeper-daughter-dream-home-renovation.html

Allison Fluke-Ekren, a teacher from Kansas, dragged her family to Syria and forced her daughter, Leyla, to train for war on behalf of the Islamic State. Now her daughter wields final words against her. Leyla Ekren, a quiet but scrappy girl from rural Kansas, lost her childhood in Syria, where her mother dragged her after war broke out more than a decade ago. (NY Times- Adam Goldman) Allison Fluke-Ekren, center, a Muslim convert from Kansas, and, right, pictured with her second husband, Volkan Ekren, and their children. The children’s faces have been blacked out to protect their identities. Credit...Photo illustration by Leslie dela Vega/The New York Times; photographs from clockwise from top left: Ahmed Mardnli/EPA, via Shutterstock; Alexandria Sheriff’s Office, via Associated Press; Associated Press

A wonderful mother-daughter collaboration resulted in the HoofsnHorns Farm Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization in Picture Rocks, Arizona. Susan Brawley, now 55, and her mother, Sidney Smith, 83, started HoofsnHorns together almost 20 years ago to rescue abandoned, orphaned, disabled, and rejected farm animals. Creating a safe and caring environment for multiple animals including roosters, goats, and dairy cows, many of Brawley’s herd come to the farm to spend the remaining years or months of their lives with some requiring special needs and a lifetime of care. http://www.hoofsnhornsfarm.org/

by Jacqueline Lohr My grandma and my mom came from an Italian family, and a favorite family recipe that we all made together was stuffed peppers. (“Not too large, not too small, just right,” as Grandma might say.) When I had a daughter of my own, I introduced her to stuffed peppers, and she loves them too. We each have our own variations. It’s a great recipe to bring the family together. _______ Jacqueline Lohr can be found on Instagram (https://instagram.com/ jaxyyy01?igshid=ZDU1ZDhlY2E=). INGREDIENTS: Stuffed Peppers with Marinara Sauce 2 T. olive oil 1 small onion, chopped fine 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 lb. chopped beef ½ t. dried oregano ½ t. dried mustard salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste 1 c. tomato sauce 2 to 4 large green peppers 1 c. water INSTRUCTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 F. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until translucent. Add beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add seasonings, mix and taste. (Remember, green peppers are a bit bland, so season meat well.) Add tomato sauce and mix. In the meantime, cut off top of peppers and remove ribs and seeds. (If you are using small peppers, remove stem and cut horizontally.) Place peppers skin (or bottom) side down in one layer in a baking dish. Fill with beef mixture. Add 1 c. water to pan, cover, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and continue baking until peppers can be pierced with a fork. Serve with tomato sauce. FRESH TOMATO SAUCE: 2 T. extra-virgin olive oil 1 sweet onion, finely diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 28-oz. can good-quality whole or diced tomatoes salt and pepper, to taste

When Olympic medalist Allyson Felix became pregnant, Nike was prepared to cut the terms of her endorsement deal by as much as 70 percent. She was told to “know your place and just run.” Seven months into the pregnancy, her daughter Camryn was delivered by emergency C-section and had to live for more than a month in the NICU. Following the public controversy, Nike altered its policy, promising not to reduce a pregnant athlete’s salary for 18 months, starting eight months before her due date. Felix left Nike, created her own brand of running shoes called Saysh, and worked with a new sponsor, Athleta, and the Women's Sports Foundation to create a child care fund for athletes who are mothers. Her Olympic medals now total 11— the most decorated American track and field athlete in Olympic history.

A mother and daughter from Norfolk, Nebraska, are facing criminal charges in connection with an alleged self-managed abortion that took place earlier this year. It’s a scenario that abortion-rights advocates have long feared, in which social-media activity or other personal data are used to prosecute those seeking care and the people who help them: Police obtained Facebook messages where the two discussed ending the teenager’s pregnancy with abortion pills. www.thecut.com/2022/08/nebraska-mom-daughter-charges-illegal-abortion-facebook-chat.html (Photo: Jamie Grill/Getty Images/Tetra images RF)