And don't forget to call your mother Sunday
If it weren’t
for mothers, none of us would be here.
This is the
weekend when everyone honors their mothers and moms in general. Usually that
entails taking mom out to eat on the busiest restaurant day of the year, or
giving her card telling her how wonderful she is, or getting her a gift
(something that’s not related to the kitchen or house cleaning), or giving her
flowers, or some combination of these.
According to a
story I read this week, the woman who created Mother’s Day would cringe at any
of this. Anna Jarvis just wanted something simple to recognize mothers since
all the holidays pretty much were centered around men. Simple —wear a white
carnation, visit your mother and maybe go to church, too. She organized the
first Mother’s Day in 1908 at her church in West Virginia, then led a
letter-writing campaign for it to be a holiday, which it became in 1914.
Naturally,
businesses, companies and corporations took what was supposed to be a simple
way of saying, “Thanks, Mom,” and turned it into a frenzied orgy of spending.
Even back in those days, florists, candy makers, greeting card companies and
anybody else who could get on the band wagon hopped aboard looking to make a
nickel off dear old Mom.
It hasn’t gotten
better through the last century. Like Easter, Christmas, Memorial Day and other
days with special meanings, Mother’s Day has been co-opted and turned into an
anything-for-a-buck occasion. Take Easter for example; it’s treated like
Christmas Jr. with corporations pressing people to buy toys and goodies and
shop, shop shop!
Mother’s Day was
like that by the 1920s, and Anna Jarvis became the No. 1 critic of the day she’d
created, but that others stole.
I guess I’m
being curmudgeonly, or just becoming grumpy in my late middle-age, because I
agree with Anna Jarvis. Like everything, Mother’s Day is too commercialized.
And those doing the commercialization try to make us feel guilty if we don’t
spend a ton of money on gifts, cards, flowers, candy, restaurants and anything
else they want us to buy. Sometimes, I wonder what their mothers think of them.
You can show
your mother how much you love and appreciate her without adding to corporate
profit lines. Taking moms out for a special dinner isn’t all that bad, I
suppose (especially if it’s at a local, non-chain place, which, I must admit,
is what we have planned this weekend). It’s simple for everyone in the family.
Of course, preparing a meal for your mom with some of her favorite dishes, is a
great way to give her a break and show appreciation.
Instead of
buying mass-produced greeting cards, write your mom a special note. And I mean
write, not just a text or an email saying “LV U 4EVR.” Hand-written notes and
letters are becoming a lost art, yet they can be much more meaningful and from
the heart than a card a thousand other moms also will be getting. Giving her a
note you wrote or a card you made yourself is unique, something that’s for her
and her alone.
As for flowers,
well, folks usually buy them just for special occasions, and while folks ought
to let their moms know they appreciate them every day, I guess flowers are OK
for Mother’s Day. Of course, getting your mom flowers or plants that she can
set out in a flower bed or other landscaping could be a good idea (and helping
her plant them wouldn’t hurt, either). Maybe even making her a flower bed or
garden spot would be a good idea. Or, giving her a tomato plant or other
vegetable plant that can grow in a patio pot would be a gift that would keep on
giving through the summer.
Along those
lines, something you make for mom would be a good gift.
Remember how
much she adored your macaroni art from grade school, and those popsicle-stick
picture frames with pictures of you?
You might want
to make something a little more sophisticated, but still simple and heartfelt.
Of course, the
main thing —whether simple and homemade, or store-bought and fancy —is to let
your mom know you appreciate her.
After all, moms
do so much for us throughout our lives and want to see us succeed in whatever
we do. Even when they may irritate us, or even aggravate us, they’re still our
moms. Let them know you love them because, after all, if it wasn’t for mothers
none of us would be here.
I love you, Mom,
and miss you.
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