If there's a little conflict around your celebration of Mother's Day, you're in good company. How are we going to celebrate, where are we going to eat? No, Mom doesn't like Olive Garden. We can't make it to the 11:00 service. Yes, I know she'd like us to go with her.
Yes, it's hard to organize a family event.
Blame it all on Anna Jarvis of West Virginia. In 1908 she organized the first official Mothers Day church service in Grafton, West Virginia to honor her own mother who died three years earlier. Talk about conflicted, she worked to have the day officially added to them national calendar and after successful, she spent her life trying to have it removed because she hated the commercialism that came along with it.
Nonetheless, she must have been proud of establishing the day of honor since she, all her life, signed things "Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother's Day." Interestingly, she never married and had no children.
Of course the idea of honoring one's mother is as old as the Ten Commandments. Probably older than that. Have you ever noticed how the winning football quarterback always says "Hi Mom" when the TV camera catches him after the game? I've never seen one of those guys say "Hi Dad." Yes, Dad gets to give away the bride, although that tradition is falling out of favor. But everyone knows it was Mom who stayed up all night with that little girl when she was sick. Mom was the one who made sure her favorite cookie was in the lunch bag on nervous school days. And Mom figured out how to make a Halloween costume out of a terry cloth bathrobe and some aluminum foil.
So, kudos to Anna Jarvis for reminding us to stop and honor our moms. She'd probably like it if we didn't send a hallmark card or send an expensive gift or even get everyone to agree on a restaurant. Rather, I think she'd approve if we just told our moms that we love them and appreciate what they did for us.
Yes, it's hard to organize a family event.
Blame it all on Anna Jarvis of West Virginia. In 1908 she organized the first official Mothers Day church service in Grafton, West Virginia to honor her own mother who died three years earlier. Talk about conflicted, she worked to have the day officially added to them national calendar and after successful, she spent her life trying to have it removed because she hated the commercialism that came along with it.
Nonetheless, she must have been proud of establishing the day of honor since she, all her life, signed things "Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother's Day." Interestingly, she never married and had no children.
Of course the idea of honoring one's mother is as old as the Ten Commandments. Probably older than that. Have you ever noticed how the winning football quarterback always says "Hi Mom" when the TV camera catches him after the game? I've never seen one of those guys say "Hi Dad." Yes, Dad gets to give away the bride, although that tradition is falling out of favor. But everyone knows it was Mom who stayed up all night with that little girl when she was sick. Mom was the one who made sure her favorite cookie was in the lunch bag on nervous school days. And Mom figured out how to make a Halloween costume out of a terry cloth bathrobe and some aluminum foil.
So, kudos to Anna Jarvis for reminding us to stop and honor our moms. She'd probably like it if we didn't send a hallmark card or send an expensive gift or even get everyone to agree on a restaurant. Rather, I think she'd approve if we just told our moms that we love them and appreciate what they did for us.
What a perfect blog post for Mother's Day ! Thank you.
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