This is a wonderful essay about the power of mentoring and teaching and loving and family. I particularly loved the story about how her mother taught her it was OK to learn slowly by gently, steadily holding a compassionate space for her to work through her frustrations! How I wish most leaders and teachers could use this kind of grace-filled honoring of individual gifts and journeys. What a lesson to learn, to embrace her own genius instead of thinking of it as a deficit! “My mother taught me how to transform my slow and struggle-filled learning style into power. What I have discovered is that while, yes, I sometimes ‘learn slowly,’ I know enough to change a system, to apply evidence, and to create relationships by the time I am ready to speak and act. I learn carefully, because I work hard to hold this fragile knowledge in my hands.” Beautiful. Thank you for the reminder of the power of teaching and parenting as a way to hold a space of aloha for leader and follower both!