Mother's Day

Sunday is Mother’s Day. What better way to say “I Love You” to my mother, Honey Mustard for being such a damn-fine mother (and wife) to The Peanut Butter & The Jelly, and all the mothers of the world than do give one of my patented (in my mind at least) holiday posts.

I will be posting my more serious, more loving, and more caring homage to my mother and my wife on Sunday. Watch for it.

Did you know?

• That in 1872, Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’, btw) suggested the idea of a celebration of Mothers?
• That it was Miss Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, who began a letter-writing campaign to a variety of influential people that made Mother's Day a national holiday? In 1907 Anna persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By the next year, 1908, Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia.
• That In 1910 the first Mother's Day proclamation was issued by the governor of West Virginia? Oklahoma celebrated Mother's Day that year as well.
• That by 1911 every state observed Mother's Day?
• That The Mother's Day International Association was incorporated on December 12, 1912, with the sole purpose of furthering meaningful observations of Mother's Day?
• That Mother’s Day became an “official” holiday in May of 1913? The US House of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the President, his Cabinet, members of Congress, and all officials of the federal government to wear a white carnation on Mother's Day. Congress followed with a Joint Resolution on May 8, 1914 that designated the second Sunday in May to be Mother's Day.
• That Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Belgium celebrate Mother's Day on the same day as the US?
• That other countries throughout the world celebrate Mother's Day as well, just not on the same day?
• That the earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods?
• That the traditional US Mother's Day flower is a carnation? Pink to represent love for mothers, white to honor those mothers who are no longer living.
• That one in four will forget Mother’s Day… and will never hear the end of it for the rest of their natural life...

Statistics about Mothers Day (Source: US Census Bureau)

• There are about 82.5 million mothers in the US
• Approximately 96% of American consumers take part in Mother's Day in some manner.
• Mother's Day is widely reported as the peak day of the year for long distance telephone calls. (Reach out and guilt someone…)
• Retailers report that Mother's Day is the second highest gift-giving holiday in the US… can you guess which is #1?
• In 2002, 55% of American women with children were in the workforce (up from 31% in 1976, yet down from 59% in 1998)

Some Movies (some good, some mediocre, some ‘meh’) about Moms

• Mother
• Trading Mom
• Mr. Mom (meh… close enough)
• The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom
• Hi, Mom!
• Serial Mom
• Mommie Dearest

Some really, really, really bad movies about mom

• Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
• Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

Some books about/for mothers

• I Don't Know How She Does It
• The Hot Mom's Handbook
• I'm Too Sexy for My Volvo: A Mom's Guide to Staying Fabulous!
• Mommy Land: Entering the Insanity of Motherhood
• What Do You Do All Day?
• The Motherhood Manifesto: What America's Moms Want - and What To Do About It

Some sage advice handed down by mothers throughout the years:

• Always change your underwear, you never know when you'll have an accident.
• Don't make that face or it'll freeze in that position.
• You’ll shoot your eye out.
• Be careful or you'll put your eye out.
• What if everyone jumped off a cliff? Would you do it, too?
• You have enough dirt behind those ears to grow potatoes!
• Close that door! Were you born in a barn?
• If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
• Don't put that in your mouth; you don't know where it's been!

Quotes and such about mothers:

• God could not be everywhere, so he made mothers – Jewish proverb
• “I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.” - Abraham Lincoln
• “There was never a great man who had not a great mother” - Oliver Schreiner
• “A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie”. ~ Tenneva Jordan
• “The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new” – Rajneesh
• “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body” - Elizabeth Stone
• “My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.” - George Washington
• “My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it” –Mark Twain
• “A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take.” - Cardinal Mermillod
• “Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process.” - John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Strange, but true, fact(s) about Mother’s Day:

• In Serbia, Mother's Day is observed two weeks before Christmas and is called "Materice". ON this day, boys and girls tiptoe into their mother's bedroom and tie her up. When she wakes up, she is surprised to find herself all tied up (shouldn’t be if it’s a yearly tradition), and begs the children to untie her while promising to give them little gifts which she has hidden under her pillow.

How to say “Happy Mother’s Day” in:

• Spanish: ‘Feliz día de la madre’
• German: ‘Glücklicher Muttertag’
• Italian: ‘Giorno felice delle madri’
• French: ‘Jour heureux de mères’
• Latin: ‘Gauisus Matris dies’

Mental iPod Song of the Day: Mother’s Day edition. “That's All Right, Mama” by Elvis Presley, from the album “The Sun Studios Story”

Well, that's all right, mama
That's all right for you
That's all right mama, just anyway you do
Well, that's all right, that's all right.
That's all right now mama, anyway you do

Mama she done told me,
Papa done told me too
'Son, that gal your foolin' with,
She ain't no good for you'
But, that's all right, that's all right.
That's all right now mama, anyway you do

I'm leaving town, baby
I'm leaving town for sure
Well, then you won't be bothered with
Me hanging 'round your door
Well, that's all right, that's all right.

That's all right now mama, anyway you do