Happy Mother's Day to all moms!

Psssst ... Don't forget that it's Mother's Day this coming Sunday.

Make sure that yours gets a reminder of all she's done for you. In case you've never thought about it, the job's not an easy one, often thankless and stressful, but all the mothers that I know personally wouldn't trade it for all the money in the world. The least we can collectively do to honour their devotion is a hug, kiss, and sincere thanks.

If you're like me, you don't always know where our North American holidays and traditions have come from. According to a little research and paraphrasing History.com ...

Our celebrations of motherhood has links back to the Greeks and Romans, who's festivals in honour of goddesses Rhea and Cybele were intended to pay homage to those who love and nurtured us. A more recent precedent for holiday is a Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday” celebrated in the UK and parts of Europe, falling on the 4th Sunday in Lent. It was a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church”, the main church in the vicinity of their home, for a special service. As the allure of the church loosened its grip in the masses, children would gift their mothers tokens of appreciation and, eventually, the custom merged with Mother’s Day as we know it around the 1930s.

Our North American Mother’s Day holiday came as a result of the efforts of Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis, and was prompted by her mother’s passing in 1905. The original intention was to honour the sacrifices mothers made for their children. In May 1908, with some financial assistance from Philly department store owner John Wanamaker, the 1st Mother's Day celebration took place, fittingly, in a church in WV. Arguing that many holidays were biased toward males, Jarvis started a massive letter writing campaign urging the adoption of a special day honouring women and motherhood. After a grassroots swell in many states, Jarvis' persistence was rewarded by US President Woodrow Wilson when he officially certified the 2nd Sunday in May as an annual holiday.

If the story ended there, it would be a Hallmark heart-warming story. Unfortunately, even though Jarvis originally pushed for a family time between mothers and their offspring, involved the wearing of a white carnation and visits filled with family time, once it became a national holiday, it was not long before good old American capitalism cashed in on its popularity. She eventually became so disgusted by its commercialism that she actively campaigned against the purchase of gifts to celebrate, spending most of her personal wealth in legal fees suing the many groups that used "her" holiday to get rich. By the time she passed in 1948 Jarvis had disowned the holiday altogether, and even actively lobbied the government to see it removed from the American calendar.

I don't know about you, but I'm glad Anna Jarvis wasn't successful. I'll admit that I actively try not to contain my appreciation and thanks for all that my own mother gifted to me to a single day on the calendar, but I will attest that I make sure she knows how I feel every 2nd Sunday in May.

If you've read many of my previous posts, you'll recall that my father spent many hours each week early in my life stitching and casting people back together again, leaving my mother to deal with "the 4 warts" on her own for most days. Her super power was the boundless energy that she had corralling 4 boisterous boys and their many friends as they invaded our backyard and its in-ground pool. It was very common for us to arise after dad had left and be on the verge of bedtime when he returned, so it on many days it was all left in mom's lap. I'm not giving any family secrets away when I tell you that we didn't always make her life wonderful, and she was not shy about demonstrating her displeasure, but she was always there to offer a snack, bandaid, hug, or kiss, whatever was required. She was the taxi to all of our sporting events ... and there were many ... and I am confident in my opinion that watching was likely secondary to monitoring the other three.

I don't know if my mother will read this, but on the chance that she does ...  Mom, I want you to know how much everything you've done, sacrificed, given, accepted and tolerated is Uber appreciated and that I acknowledge the profound impact you've had on the person I am today. I also want you to know that I love the fact, as you so proudly state, that you've raised 4 very different men, and I agree with you that it shows how awesome you are. When this whole pandemic thing has faded into the past, brace yourself for a very long hug and a number of kisses ... I will have been stockpiling them for a while. I love and appreciate all that you are.