My mom was one of the Iranian revolutionaries who ousted the corrupt Shah. I was born the year my mother's revolution failed and a new corrupt regime took over after the old one.

When she was a young mom, she could have kept her head down and just worried about her own (adorable ) babies. But every kid murdered by the Khomeini regime felt like it was her kid. So she got back in the fight. She spoke out against the regime.

And they found her and took her away from us. She ended up in the infamous Evin prison--where they tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of Iranian dissidents.

My mom says they were packed hundreds to a room and she said that these women were Iran's best women; they'd risked their lives to fight for a better country. Many did not make it. Most would never be mothers.

One woman was pregnant in the prison with her and all the other girls took out the pins in their hair and whatever pieces of clothes they didn't need and they weaved the baby a blanket from their clothes. The baby was taken away immediately.

My mother taught me a lot, but what I keep going back to is what she taught me about mothering other people's children. She taught me that when some kids are suffering, even if they are not yours, a mother fights for those kids. Motherhood is what you do for everybody's kid.

My mom got out of prison. She ended up cooking amazing food for us and driving us around and all the mom stuff and she loved us unconditionally, but I was never under the impression that my life and wellbeing was more important than any one else's. And for that I thank my mother

Happy Mothers Day to my mom and all of you mothers out there fighting for other people's kids. (me, my mom, and mine)