(CNN) -- Monday morning, as we scrambled to get Luna off to school, there came a moment when the timeline of my life leapt into fast-forward. I was carrying around an iPad turned to CNN, checking in to see what news awaited me at work, while Luna danced around me, knowing my partner or I would turn off the TV if watching it slowed her down. Then, suddenly, something brought us to a halt. "President Barack Obama is speaking at Barnard College today," the news reader said. Our eyes widened, and we shot each other a smile. The president was speaking at Mama's school.
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Barack Obama spoke Monday at Barnard, Rose Arce's alma mater
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Arce recalls that when a dorm mate said she had two mothers, other students fell silent
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Her daughter, Luna, wants to follow in her mother's footsteps by attending Barnard
Barnard College
Barnard
Barnard
@placeholder was a long step better, but on the first day of college, my dorm mates fell into silence when one young woman delivered this news: "I have two mothers," she said.
Barnard College
Barnard
Barnard
Back then, @placeholder had openly gay and lesbian professors and a group for students who were gay.
Barnard College
Barnard
Barnard
I showed her the pool I barely touched as a student and bought her an electric blue sweatshirt with @placeholder emblazoned on the front.
Barnard College
Barnard
Barnard
@placeholder used to say it "makes women," and the confidence and smarts it instilled were something I want for her, too.
Mama
This is my alma mater, the same college our little girl talks of attending some day because it's "@placeholder's school," where it will be of absolutely no consequence that her mothers are gay.