I regret not taking my 83-year-old mother to the Oscars the year I won. She deserved the Oscar for giving up so much for me.
Interpretation
This quote expresses a feeling of remorse for not sharing a significant achievement with a loved one who has made sacrifices.
Kathy Bates reflects on her regret of not including her elderly mother in the celebration of her Oscar win, highlighting the deep bond between them and the sacrifices her mother made throughout her life. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing and honoring the contributions of family members, particularly those who have supported us unconditionally.
In practice
During a speech at an awards ceremony, I shared a quote from Kathy Bates to highlight the importance of family support.
Now if I go through it again, I think I would be a lot more open about it. I admire people who have been open like Melissa Ethridge and women I see walking around facing it without wigs and all of that stuff. I think I would be more courageous next time.
Where I grew up, I feel lucky to have been from there. The culture in general is rooted with a strong sense of family; of kin; of place, geographically; of tradition. There's a resilience, a strong will to make it. I mean, heck, it was settled by a bunch of outcasts that didn't fit in.
We are a continuum. Just as we reach back to our ancestors for our fundamental values, so we, as guardians of that legacy, must reach ahead to our children and their children. And we do so with a sense of sacredness in that reaching.
All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them.
My children cause me the most exquisite suffering of which I have any experience. It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness. Sometimes I seem to myself, in my feelings toward these tiny guiltless beings, a monster of selfishness and intolerance.
My father had been opposed to my flying from the first and had never flown himself. However, he had agreed to go up with me at the first opportunity, and one afternoon he climbed into the cockpit and we flew over the Redwood Falls together. From that day on I never heard a word against my flying and he never missed a chance to ride in the plane.
Real luxury is having the time to read endless stories in bed with my children. And I get that all the time. I'm so blessed.
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