A MOTHER ON MOTHERHOOD

"A mother's love is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking, it never fails or falters, even though the heart is breaking." Helen Rice

May, 2011 - What a month! As I sat down to write my post last Sunday the unexpected and shocking news about Osama Bin Laden's death was capturing America's attention, including my own. I was rivited to the television set and couldn't concentrate on writing.

So far we have had May Day, (which was to have been last week's topic), Mayhem in the Middle East, and now Mother's Day, with Memorial Day only a few weeks away. All those "M"s and their corresponding meanings could make an interesting modern day rap. Ha! Another "M". The rap might go like this:

May flowers and the May pole were good old fashioned joys, so gentle and so pretty for all the girls and boys. What happened to traditions, those long forgotten days, when simple times brought joy supreme into those days of gray?

We'd put flowers on the doorstep, then quickly knock and hide, to see the door swing open, suprised faces just inside. It was often someone's mother - a neighbor's or your own, when mothers ruled the hearth and home, and bad guys were unknown.

The middle east was far away and touched us not at all - Osama and his vengeful gang outside our nation's wall. Our mothers were our bulwarks, against the world's foes. Sure to feed, comfort and protect us from our worries and our woes.

Through the good times and the bad times we could always count on mother, her loving care and sacrifice unmatched by any other. And when, through death or social change, a mother was replaced, it meant a grandma or an aunt assumed a mother's face.

So take some time to think about a woman in your life, who put aside her needs and wants to lessen your own strife. A call or card would make her day, of that you can be sure. It's a simple way to do some good, that will mean a lot to her.

Happy Mother's Day to all the women who have played a mother's role!

Educational Note: The Origins of Mother's Day. According to an on-line article on the origins of this special day, some form of expressing the importance of mothers has been celebrated since prehistoric times. Mother-oriented festivals were usually held in the spring, and honored mothers of that time. In our country the first real celebration was on May 10, 1908 at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Julia Ward Howe, authoress of the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic first suggested the idea, with Anna Jarvis, carrying on the campaign to make it a holiday. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May as a national holiday. Click on the article entitled Origins of Mother's Day above for a more complete history of how Mother's Day came to be.