There may have been moments of hair ripping, but cartoonist Cathy Guisewite (1950-), born on this day in Dayton, Ohio, credited her mom for her fame.

Fresh from college and working as an advertising writer, Guisewite drew humorous cartoons about her life on those nights she was home alone and wished to be dating. "Listening to depressing music and eating M&Ms."

She sent some of her work home and her mom insisted she send her drawings to a syndication service. Guisewite resisted at first: "No matter where you go or what you do, your mother will always be behind you... quietly ripping her hair out."

"All parents believe their children can do the impossible. They thought it the minute we were born, and no matter how hard we've tried to prove them wrong, they all think it about us now. And the really annoying thing is, they're probably right."

Finally, in 1976, to "get my mother off my back," Guisewite submitted the samples. She had a contract within days. Cathy was born and is still going strong, currently syndicated in over 1,400 newspapers worldwide. 

The creator said the strip about the adventures of a single career woman continues to be popular "because it shows the weaker moments we all have... it's a relief to see a woman who doesn't have it under control and deals with problems in her own way."

Women love the strip because Cathy is funny, vulnerable, and crazy. And she gives voice to the real-life struggles females have with maddening males... and mothers: "Mother, food, love and career," our heroine Cathy typically observed one day, "the four major guilt groups."

Mothers just know.