Honor mom this weekend

There is nothing as lovely as celebrating Mother’s Day.  A celebration, unlike many of the other special days throughout the year, that has about it a sense of elegance and quiet.  The focus in the family shifts away from letting the “women” in the family plan and organize a gathering, to the “family” who begins planning something just for her.

Curious about the historic significance of Mother’s Day, I learned it was first conceived by a woman named Anna Jarvis, following the death of her mother on May 9, 1905. The first program around this idea was held on May 12, 1907, in an Episcopal church in Grafton, West Virginia where Anna’s mother taught Sunday school. 

 In May 1913, the U. S. House of Representatives passed a resolution calling on U.S. House of Representatives and federal government officials (from the president down) to wear a white carnation the following day in observance of Mother’s Day. On May 8 1914, the U.S. Congress passed a law designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day and requesting a proclamation. 

The next day, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation declaring the first national Mother’s Day as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war. 

In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved a stamp commemorating the holiday. In May 2008, the House of Representatives voted twice on a resolution commemorating Mother’s Day, the first passed without a dissenting vote (21 members not voting). The Saint Andrews Methodist Church, where the first celebration was held, is now the International Mother’s Day Shrine and is a National Historic Landmark.

Relationship with our beloved mothers can be difficult.   There are times, throughout our lives when we can be estranged. Or disagree. These are passing moments because there is no escape, each of us has been delivered into this world by a remarkable woman who becomes our mother. We should honor her. 

When I think back to my early childhood, I remember getting up early, encouraging my brothers to join me and then delivering breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day.  Probably waking them from a sound sleep at a very early hour. Who knows what we had attempted to create. I’m certain we didn’t know how to brew coffee.

Whenever I think about festive occasions, my mind turns to thinking about the menu and how the table will be decorated.  Blue was my mother’s color, so we would always try to find beautiful blue flowers for the table. As it is spring, we might serve fresh asparagus and a roasted chicken.  My mother loved holidays and gathering us together, so we never really needed a specially designated day to celebrate her.  We celebrated her every day.

In thinking about poetry written about Mother’s Day I found a poem entitled:  “How Becoming a Mother is Like Space Travel” by Catherine Pierce. You can find it on the American Academy of Poet’s website.  It was published in 2020 and compares the experience of an astronaut with that of being a mother.  How after being launched into space new experiences changes how “He left the planet as himself. He came back as himself, rearranged.” Becoming a mother rearranges a women’s life. 

On Sunday, celebrate mothers.  All mothers.  What we are celebrating, after all is, essentially, a Lifetime Achievement Award.  Think of buying them a book at Innisfree, or theater tickets for the Colonial or the Winnipesaukee Playhouse. Make it a memorable for her.

Happy Mother’s Day.

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Elizabeth Howard is the host of the Short Fuse Podcast, found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or through the Arts Fuse. Her career intersects journalism, marketing, and communications. “Ned O’Gorman: A Glance Back,” a book she edited, was published in May 2016. She is the author of “A Day with Bonefish Joe,” a children’s book, published by David R. Godine. You can send her a note at: eh@elizabethhoward.com.