The first job Ashford got was helping a mother, Mrs. Ravenshere, take care of her home and her two young sons. Ashford watched how Ravenshere's affection for the boys affected them and how confident it made them. "'You have a natural ability with those boys,' I told her one morning after she'd waved them off to school. 'Do I?' she said, looking surprised. 'I don't think I do very much at all. I'm only their mother.' Only their mother! Throughout the rest of my career I heard that come from so many women's mouths. It's always said in an apologetic tone, as if all of the million things they do daily for their offspring happen quite by chance. I wish mothers would stop putting themselves down so much. All mothers are quite brilliant in my eyes and nine times out of ten don't realize the sacrifices they undertake or the powerful contributions they make."
