May 9 – Mother’s Day
My mother died 23 years ago and there’s not a day that I don’t think about her and the impact she had on my life. Mom was never a mommy … diapers and sick kids weren’t something she really was passionate about. But, she loved us and loved being with us.
I watch mothers and daughters relate to each other all the time. Sometimes the women are older, sometimes it is a young mom … but I always want to whisper in the daughter’s ear that she should take every single moment she has to appreciate her mom because she won’t always have her around.
That is the sentiment that planted the seeds for our Mother’s Day holiday.
In 1905, Ms. Ana Reese Jarvis died. She had been a wonderful, loving woman – the daughter of a pastor. She taught in a Methodist Sunday School in Grafton, West Virginia. Two years after her death, the church there wanted to celebrate her life and asked her daughter to help them plan the celebration. She realized that there were many mothers who were never appreciated while they were alive and that was the time to celebrate them.
She went back to her home church in Philadelphia and supplied white carnations (her mother’s favorite flower) for a Mother’s Day Celebration on May 10th. She took it upon herself to give this day national recognition and began writing thousands of letters and holding numerous interviews to raise awareness.
Six years later, May 8, 1914, both houses of Congress passed resolutions to establish a Mother’s Day observance. On May 9, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed:
"Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the said Joint Resolution, do hereby direct the government officials to display the United States flag on all government buildings and do invite the people of the United States to display the flag at their homes or other suitable places on the second Sunday in May as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country."
Today, Mothers Day is celebrated not only in the United States but in many other countries around the world.
My mother died 23 years ago and there’s not a day that I don’t think about her and the impact she had on my life. Mom was never a mommy … diapers and sick kids weren’t something she really was passionate about. But, she loved us and loved being with us.
I watch mothers and daughters relate to each other all the time. Sometimes the women are older, sometimes it is a young mom … but I always want to whisper in the daughter’s ear that she should take every single moment she has to appreciate her mom because she won’t always have her around.
That is the sentiment that planted the seeds for our Mother’s Day holiday.
In 1905, Ms. Ana Reese Jarvis died. She had been a wonderful, loving woman – the daughter of a pastor. She taught in a Methodist Sunday School in Grafton, West Virginia. Two years after her death, the church there wanted to celebrate her life and asked her daughter to help them plan the celebration. She realized that there were many mothers who were never appreciated while they were alive and that was the time to celebrate them.
She went back to her home church in Philadelphia and supplied white carnations (her mother’s favorite flower) for a Mother’s Day Celebration on May 10th. She took it upon herself to give this day national recognition and began writing thousands of letters and holding numerous interviews to raise awareness.
Six years later, May 8, 1914, both houses of Congress passed resolutions to establish a Mother’s Day observance. On May 9, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed:
"Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the said Joint Resolution, do hereby direct the government officials to display the United States flag on all government buildings and do invite the people of the United States to display the flag at their homes or other suitable places on the second Sunday in May as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country."
Today, Mothers Day is celebrated not only in the United States but in many other countries around the world.
0 comments:
Post a Comment