As of 2022, mothers in North America have had a day set aside in their honour for 115 years.
In May 1907, Anna May Jarvis initiated an annual celebration of mothers when she requested that a special service honouring moms be held at a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To add a visual symbol to the event, those in attendance were asked to wear white carnations.
Since that time, flowers of all varieties and colours have made an appearance for mothers’ enjoyment. White carnations came to be worn by those who had lost their mother.
Word spread from church to church and by 1914, the United States of America Congress had officially named the second Sunday in the month of May as Mother’s Day.
In Canada, the same day is set aside to honour the feminine parent.
Being a mother is a learn-on-the-job training program, which leaves many moms wondering about their proficiency.
Motherhood offers women a variety of roles: teacher, counsellor, chauffeur, chef, arbitrator, confidant, to name a few of the many.
Demands of the job are unrelenting, but offer gems of pride along the way. When offspring succeed at a task or make an appropriate choice all on their own, their mother finally enjoys a taste of job satisfaction.
Tomorrow, Sunday, May 8, is Mother’s Day. What do you have planned to either honour your mom’s memory, or to spoil her unreservedly?
It’s payback time. Don’t skimp. Mother’s Day only comes around once per year. The other 364 days are all about you, and she is just fine with that.
