We chanted, sang and danced, and I kept whispering, “Girls can do anything,” into Magnolia’s ear.

When she took the stage at the Women’s March, McBath reminded all mothers everywhere of what we have to lose—our children.

Raising a daughter, I grapple with fostering the independence that shines so bright in her eyes with making sure others around her always know the kindness in her heart.

“That this [2016 election outcome] is a vote against the future, and the future is going to happen anyway.” Social justice, equality, and human evolution will be the future, regardless of the next few years.

How am I supposed to empower my daughter in this America?

As close as Hillary came to winning the presidency, her campaign also highlighted the fact that society still views tenacious, tough women in a negative light.

Recent events have me thinking about these two ladies a lot, wondering about all those proclamations I've made over these past ten years that I have been raising girls.

It’s that some moments flash by while others come with a weird kind of pause, like graduations and weddings and other milestones. For those, it’s easy to prepare—waterproof mascara, tissues, a camera. But this one caught me off guard.

In that moment, I suddenly felt as though the thread that had hemmed generations of women together had somehow been tethered.

I’ve taken her question as nagging, but it’s not. She sees something I don’t, she wants what’s best for me, even 40 years on.