Dr. Laura Schlessinger

Dr. Laura is no longer on radio but has switched to Sirius radio because her views on values and human behavior has been deemed too radical for her to continue on public radio.

I feel like I've lost a surrogate mom, a friend, and mentor. Every day since I found out I was pregnant with S.E. my firstborn, I've listened to Dr. Laura on the radio when I working. She opened my eyes to entertain the idea of being a Stay-at-Home mom. That there was pride and honor it doing this. See, I grew up with parents coming from a third world country where staying at home is not looked upon as a choice but a hard lifestyle for lack of a better word. In my birth country of Vietnam, only the rich or very smart went to school and became anything other than farmers to make a living to feed your family. Everywoman was a stay-at-home there. In addition to looking after children, you had to work hard. Very, very hard to eek out a living. My mom raised animals, grew vegetables, made bread everyday and walked to the market very early in the morning to try to sell her goods in order to help her parents and later on to feed us. She wished she could have been a nurse. Even now, in America, she sews for a living-being on her feet for eight hours on concrete to make drapes, pillows, and furniture to enrich other peoples' lives. I think she's amazing but she thinks because she doesn't have more than a 7th grade education, she's not valued.

So when I got pregnant, she was vocal about me not wasting my education by staying at home to take care of my baby. I was torn. On the one hand, I didn't want to disappoint my mom and my professors by not working. My lovely and I were frugal enough where I wouldn't have to go back to work after having our baby.

Enter Dr. Laura. She was the lone voice in telling all who'd listen that it was OKAY to stay at home, in fact, it was our responsibility as parents to stay at home with our children. This spoke to me. I really wanted to stay home but was afraid of the backlash of not being an independent woman in control of her finances.

I thank God, my lovely husband, and Dr. Laura for helping me find my true calling. My husband wanted me to stay home but he wanted it to be my decision, not something he insisted. Dr. Laura also reminded me on a regular basis to take the time to be a good wife and to take pleasure in my children instead of them being an accessory and en extension of my ego. I'm so grateful for every smell, laugh, hug, and kiss I get to witness and be a part of in my children's lives. There will never be another job where I learned about the lengths my husband and I have gone to in raising our kids. They are the sparkle, the glue, the reason we are not selfish with our love, time, and smile.

I miss her voice. I have been almost one week without hearing her throughout my house between 12-3pm. I'm hoping my budget will allow us to get Sirius someday so I can listen to her again.