The Facebook executive has written a touching letter to celebrate Mother's Day and to acknowledge the one-year anniversary of the death of her husband.
Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg has penned a touching Mother's Day ode to the world's single moms.
Sandberg's letter, which she posted to the social media site for which she serves as COO, comes at a conspicuous time--her husband and father to her two children died almost exactly one year before.
"This year I am thinking especially of the many mothers across the country," the businesswoman wrote. "People become single parents for many reasons: loss of a partner, breakdown of a relationship, by choice. One year and five days ago I joined them."
Sandberg's husband, Dave Goldberg, died May 1, 2015 while exercising during a family vacation in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico.
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Sandberg rose to national prominence, in part, after writing a book of advice for working women and moms like herself.
"In Lean In, I emphasized how critical a loving and supportive partner can be for women both professionally and personally—and how important Dave was to my career and to our children’s development," Sandberg wrote
In Friday's Facebook post, the 46-year-old discusses how different the advice she so famously gave might have been in the light of her new situation.
"Some people felt that I did not spend enough time writing about the difficulties women face when they have an unsupportive partner or no partner at all," Sandberg wrote. "They were right."
"For me, this is still a new and unfamiliar world. Before, I did not quite get it. I did not really get how hard it is to succeed at work when you are overwhelmed at home. I did not understand how often I would look at my son’s or daughter’s crying face and not know how to stop the tears," she wrote.
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Sandberg also addressed the gap between women of considerable financial means like herself and poor single mothers.
"I realize how extremely fortunate I am not to face the financial burdens so many single mothers and widows face. Poverty is one of the hidden and devastating aftereffects of loss for women," she wrote.
Sandberg wrote that she has a very supportive extended family who've helped her and her children get through the difficulties of the last year before calling on people everywhere to lend some support to single mothers. She wrote:
"Being a mother is the most important—and most humbling—job I’ve ever had. As we rightly celebrate motherhood, we should give special thanks to the women who are raising children on their own. And let’s vow to do more to support them, every day."
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