Oprah's Top 20 Moments

A Mother Leaves a Legacy (1998)

When Erin Kramp was dying of cancer, she came up with a brilliant idea about what to leave her husband, Doug, and her 6-year-old daughter, Peyton. The day Doug and Erin appeared on the show, they shared a portion of the video diaries she'd recorded. On the tapes, Erin gave Peyton advice on everything from how to choose makeup ("Try to find makeup that looks natural, like you're not wearing any") to how to choose a husband ("Pick a very nice guy who has a backbone"). She left a gift for Peyton to open on her 16th birthday.

I've often called mothers the greatest spiritual teachers in the world. Erin was one of the bravest.