Happy Mother's Day from Marco Rubio

May 9, 2010

Dear Sharon,

Today, we honor moms across the nation for being role models to their children and families and for their contributions in careers as varied as public service, medicine, education and on the front lines of safeguarding our freedoms at home and abroad.

In my own life, my mother has been a powerful source of inspiration. Having come to the United States in the late 1950s with only her family and work ethic, my mom spent the next forty years working long hours to provide for our family and give my two sisters, brother and me the opportunity to thrive. I have always been in awe of her and people of her generation who lost their dreams in Cuba only to embrace America's liberties and work hard to ensure their children could fufill their own dreams here. My mother's selfless sacrifices - as a hotel maid, a Kmart stock clerk, and the work she did inside our household - taught me important life lessons about the value of hard work, empowering children and making sure they always understand that, in America, anything is possible. Everything I am and have today, I owe to my mother and father.

On this Mother's Day, I also give thanks to God for my wife Jeanette. During our thirteen years of marriage, she has been the rock of our family and a daily source of inspiration. Her devotion to our four children - Amanda, Daniella, Anthony and Dominic - has enriched their lives and ensured they too can enjoy all the blessings and opportunities she and I enjoyed because of our own parents.

I also want to celebrate the inspiring example of Cuba's Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White). As the mothers, wives and daughters of Cuban political prisoners, these women have spent years courageously exercising God-given freedoms that are outlawed in Cuba. Every Sunday after Mass, they have taken to the streets in peaceful marches to insist on the liberation of their loved ones. In recent months, they have come under attack by the regime for this. Undeterred and unafraid, they have only recommitted their efforts. Theirs is a courage driven by their commitment to freedom but also by the selfless love that mothers everywhere possess for their sons and daughters. Today, we honor that selfless love.

Happy Mother's Day!

Marco Rubio