Kathleen and I have been together for 36 years. I’ve been fortunate to watch her grow from a local TV producer to a top news anchor here in the nation’s capital to a highly-placed corporate executive.
I watched her educate herself, as I have tried to, to the challenges facing this world–including those challenging women. She has taken a particular interest in the horror of HIV/AIDS in Africa, being actively involved on that front with special focus on the transmission of the infection from mother to children. She has gotten our own children, as they grew older, to get involved themselves in this work of caring for African kids born with AIDS.
Kathleen has also been a proponent of our encouraging the development of what’s called micro-entrepreneurism, efforts to help women especially begin small businesses in places like rural Africa. I love Kathleen’s big-picture look at the world that she’s gained over these years as executive vice president of Marriott International. She just took me to China as part of a business trip and gave me a look at that incredible country as it zooms into the 21st century.
There’s no limit to where Kathleen herself is zooming. I’m so lucky…don’t you think!
And all the time, she is the best mother of Michael, Thomas, and Caroline. I sometimes think she’s too tough (I’m the softie!) but when I look into the kids’ faces, I know they love every minute and every ounce of real concern and insistent love that Kathleen gives them. She was the one who worked with them on their homework, the one who focused on their medical care, the one who made sure they grew up enriched with all the cultural sophistication out there.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you out there, especially to The Queen.
Chris Matthews