This Sunday, it's Mother's Day, even here in Japan. Nothing is more important than mom. This is what I always say. I don't care how sentimental or saccharine it sounds, the bond and the love between a mother and child is the most precious thing on earth. I am a father to a four-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy. Being a father is my number one job and my number one priority. As a father I'm also learning about the mother-daughter bond as I watch the relationship that my wife and daughter are building. It's beautiful. Yet, the mother-son bond is the one I have the most personal experience with, obviously. For me, my mom is the reason I am the man I am today. My mom passed away in 2010, and think about her everyday. But this quote here gives me inspiration.

OK, since it's Mother's Day, I want to point to two clips below which are beautiful examples of two men paying tribute to their moms by speaking from the heart. The first one is of Kevin Durant who won the NBA MVP Award last week. The clip features the highlights from his speech. Near the end Durant shares a story from his childhood that is particularly touching.

 

"Genuine, spontaneous, and authentic." These are the terms often used to describe late-night talk show host Craig Ferguson. Ferguson ad-libs much of his material and often goes off script (not that there is much of a solid script to begin with). His approach is unique among the late-night talk show hosts. His approach may not be for everyone, but his dry wit and authentic, down-to-earth style is engaging. Ferguson is my personal favorite. In this second clip below, Ferguson eschews his normal monologue and instead talks about his mother who had just recently passed away.

 

Here's a bit from me. Below is a 6-min segment from a longer talk I gave at TEDxKyoto in 2012. In this story, which I  also shared at Webstock 2013 in New Zealand, I talk about our two-month-old daughter meeting my mom for the first time, just days before my mother passed away. (Here I share a little more about my mom and what it was like to be with her in her final moments).