Column: Happy Mother's Day

column-happy-mother-s-day

Dear readers,

“M” is for the million things she gave me. “O” means only that she’s growing old. “T” is for the tears she shed to save me.

Need I go on? Hint, hint, hint, today is Mother’s Day. 

The famous M-O-T-H-E-R song was written in 1915. It was the year after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day a national holiday. President Wilson famously said, “Mother’s Day is dedicated to the best mother in the world, your mother.”

In those days Golden Corral had not yet been invented. Mom couldn’t be treated to the giant salad bar with plenty of room to sit in the overflow tent pitched on the parking lot. The celebration consisted of attending church followed by a picnic lunch and a game of croquet. 

Mother’s Day is always celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Somehow it escaped moving to Monday in 1971 like Presidents Day, Memorial Day, and Columbus Day, for a three-day weekend. Three-day weekends were so popular in those days that many wanted Christmas and the Fourth of July moved to Monday.

Some days are more sacred than others and Mother’s Day is one. Plus, many mothers in those days were stay-at-home moms. They looked forward to Monday for some peace and quiet when the kids went back to school.

If you have young children in your family, take time to help them make mom a gift. A keepsake made with finger paint and little hands is always popular. When I was in grade school, the teacher usually helped us make something to give to our mothers.   

If the kids in the family are adolescents, please remind them that today is Mother’s Day. Unless the latest Tik Tok challenge involves celebrating Mother’s Day, I’m sure they have forgotten dear old mom. (Note to old-timers: a Tik Tok challenge is an internet fad created by the Chinese Communists to steal the secrets teenagers have hidden away on their computers)

Adolescents need to be reminded about Mother’s Day. Many think their very existence is sufficient thanks for the million things their mom has done for them.  They don’t realize that the cute they once possessed wore off a couple of years ago. Maybe the cute gradually wearing off a child as they age is nature’s way of preparing moms for when young adults leave home.

One mother once confided in me that when her child was born, she mistakenly thought it was the happiest day of her life. Later she learned that the birth of her child was actually the second happiest day of her life. The happiest day was when he finally moved out of her basement 40 years later.

If you don’t have any plans for mom today, get the croquet set out and celebrate like it’s 1915.

See you all next week, same Schwinn time, same Schwinn channel.

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