Watch Hillary Clinton's Powerful Speech About What She Wishes She Could Tell Her Mother Now

Updated on Nov 17, 2016 at 12:35 PM

In her first public appearance since conceding the election, Hillary Clinton gave a speech at a Children's Defense Fund ceremony held in her honor. The former presidential nominee said she was deeply disappointed by the election results. "Many times this week I wanted to curl up with a book or my dogs and never leave the house again," she said. But Clinton ended her speech with a powerful anecdote about what she wishes she could tell her mother — and it might make her supporters feel a little bit less dejected.

Clinton started the anecdote (at minute 17:22 in the video above) by saying she draws hope from her late mother, Dorothy Howell Rodham, who was abandoned by her parents at 8 years old and sent on a train to California with her little sister, who was three years younger than her. Even once Rodham got to California, she was mistreated by her grandparents and worked as a housemaid. Clinton continued:

"I think about her on that train. I wish I could walk down the aisle and find the little wooden seats where she sat holding tight to her younger sister, all alone and terrified. She doesn't yet know how much more she will have to face and even suffer. She doesn't yet know she will find the strength to escape that suffering. That's still years off. Her whole future is unknown, as it is for all of us. As she stares out at the vast country moving past her, I dream of going up to her and sitting next to her and taking her in my arms and saying, 'Look, look at me and listen. You will survive, you will have a family of your own — three children — and as hard as it might be to imagine, your daughter will grow up to be a United States senator, represent our country as secretary of state, and win more than 62 million votes for president of the US.'"

Clinton might have been expressing what she'd tell her mother as a child, but in many ways, she was sending a message to herself and her supporters: even though things seem dismal now, the future can — and will — be bright.

Those who worry about the country's future under a President Trump should listen to her final words from the speech. "I am as sure of this as anything I have ever known. America is still the greatest country in the world, this is still the place where anyone can beat the odds," she said. "It's up to each and every one of us to keep working to make America better and stronger and fairer."