Even coming from Ghana to the United States, my mom and dad did so much to provide a better life for their kids. It was such a huge sacrifice; leaving your entire family - and we have a huge family - leaving them to come to America and have a better life for their kids.
It was sort of just a family sport. My mom and dad were pretty keen golfers when I was young and so were my grandparents, and I just sort of tagged along with them.
When my first semester grades came out, my mom and dad told me I wouldn't be playing football.
I have great faith that Heaven's there and I'll see my brothers and my mom and dad when I get there.
A lot of our family was undocumented. My mom and dad were both super conservative. My dad had a green card; my mom was an Eisenhower Republican who did not approve of all the 'illegal people.'
My best memories growing up are of putting on musicals with my mom and dad, Both of them are real hams; it was like vaudeville in East Hampton.
When I moved out, my mom and dad came to help me get settled into my apartment - a place I ultimately got hooked up with in Coach Nelson's building. We had to figure out how to get all my shoes over here. That was a little stressful.
My mom and dad used to tell me, 'You've got to see this film,' and they were influential to a high degree of the films I saw as a kid.
I would always sneak in the refrigerator and eat seconds, and underneath my bed - you know, I had my own bedroom - it was littered with Twinkie wrappers and Jolly Rancher wrappers. And I would sneak-eat, because I was denied food, not because I was hungry, but because my mom and dad did the best they could in 1970 and '71 and '72.
Mom and Dad are truly my heroes. And I have to say, so is my little brother Robert. He's 11, and he's just the most amazing boy. He's so much like Dad sometimes, it's a bit scary.
The house was big enough for my brother and me to have firecracker wars at one end and leave Mom and Dad undisturbed at the other. When firecrackers weren't available, we attacked each other with pennies and marbles and clumps of Crisco, which made brilliant greasy asterisks when you missed and hit the wall.
Marvin Gaye is an inspiration to me. He was one of the first Motown musicians that my mom and dad introduced me to, and I always thought it would be a good idea if I was ever an artist, and now I am, to make a record called 'Marvin Gaye.'
People have to understand how important it is for kids to be nurtured by their mom and dad and get the great role modeling when they are young.
My guess is that my mom and dad are very actively involved in the affairs of the next life, and they don't spend too much time looking back. My dad used to say he always looks forward; he never looks back.
I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, in a really rundown old house. I'd stay out till 8:30, 9:00 at night. Just blow in. My mom and dad never really cared much. It was okay. We were pretty free to roam. I mean, I had no concept of stopping play. It just didn't occur to anyone.
My dad was an FBI agent. My mom and dad were straight arrow types, and I had a conservative, suburban Orange County upbringing.
Nobody in our family's ever recalled seeing my mom and dad speak a harsh word to one another.
When I was a kid, I played sports a lot. My mom and dad were divorced, but I hung out in the neighborhood a lot, and it was all about sports. I would be out all day on the sand lot or on the hockey rink. My dad would take me to baseball games, but he worked so hard, and he would always fall asleep.
It's because of their unrelenting, unconditional support and love I'm able to have the life that I have now and do everything I love to do, and that starts with the selflessness and love of my mom and dad.
'Sesame Street' is awesome - not only because they teach, edify and entertain kids but because they savvily make it possible to do so with parental engagement, because the show is loaded with references for Mom and Dad.
