And really, how insulting is it that to suggest that the best thing women can do is raise other people to do incredible things? I'm betting some of those women would like to do great things of their own.

There's no one right way to parent, and there's no magic combination of genders that produces the most well-adjusted child. We all do the best we can at loving our kids and building our families.

We are dealing, among other concerns, with 826 kids who lost a mother or father to terror, and 28 youths who have lost both parents.

I could be, you know, the person that shows little kids that giving up isn't something that you should do.

My parents have a wonderful marriage, but they have been together since my mother was 12, married when they were just teenagers and are barely ever separated. They even work together. As a result, I have always thought of marriage as involving the loss of a certain amount of autonomy.

The irony is that I was a single mother, and I raised five kids by myself and put myself through school. I bought my first house in 1999 -- that was a very big deal for me -- and now I have to sell it, only because they won't hire Americans. It's devastating.