“A day for sentiment and not profit.” No chocolates, big bouquets and elaborate gifts necessary. Just love and thankfulness.”
According to U. S. history, Mother’s Day was first advocated by Anna Jarvis to honor her own mother, who cared for wounded soldiers in the Civil War. Anna started a campaign for the day when her mother died in 1905, and, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a decree that the second Sunday in May shall forever be considered Mother’s Day each year.
The original plan, by Ms. Jarvis, was for the morning to be spent in church, followed by boys and girls writing notes to their mothers. She even advocated the spelling of the holiday’s name to be “Mother’s Day” and not “Mothers Day.” She believed it was for honoring your own mother and not everyone else’s.
Back in 1914, a $5.00 card, a box of chocolates, a spa treatment, and a bouquet of flowers were not required or, even, preferred. When card, flower and chocolate companies had taken up the holiday as a marketing ploy by 1920, Anna Jarvis was appalled. The day was to be known for sentiment and not profit, Anna declared!
And she then began to petition for the REMOVAL of the day from the calendar!!!
Anna became so vocal in her opposition that she crashed a candymakers convention and was later arrested for disturbing the peace.
So to honor Anna on this Sunday and to honor YOUR mom and her efforts in raising you, forgo the chocolates and the bouquets and think about these questions.
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What makes your mom special?
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What are you thankful that you learned from her?
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What do you (did you) like to do with her?
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What makes you smile when you think of her?
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In what way do you want to be just like her?
Honor her memory by savoring these thoughts if she’s gone and save yourself the expenses of gifts and just share with her your thoughts, if she’s alive and well. I, personally, love the way my mom selflessly served my siblings and I. She majored in being a mom, I say!!! What a lucky child I was.