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For many years, May has been the month that brings in flowers after April's month full of showers (at least that's how I heard the saying growing up).
The second Sunday of May is recognized as Mother's Day. Here is one thing I didn't know. The origin of Mother's Day, as we know it, took place in the early 1900s. This started because a woman named Anna Jarvis started a campaign for an official holiday honoring mothers in 1905, the year her own mother died. The first larger-scale celebration of the holiday was in 1908, when Jarvis held a public memorial for her mother in her hometown of Grafton, West Virginia.
Now I sit and think about this and reflect. It took a woman to come up with a day to celebrate our mothers, while she was mourning the loss of hers. After recently losing a parent, a part of me wants to travel back in time and give Jarvis a huge hug. I wonder what was going on in her mind during that time. Was she putting in extra work to mask grieving? Was she working to designate a special mothers day as a way to heal after the loss of her mother? Perhaps it is both.
This is not an editorial to pull any guilt strings, it is just a way for me to recognize that Mother's Day is different for everyone, and we need to be mindful of that.
I am very lucky to still have my mother in my life. Anyone knows me, knows that I talk about my mother Cheryl alot. We sure have our ways of handling things and they aren't always the same. However, my mom has been there for her family, her friends, without a second's hesitation. This year Mother's Day will be different without my father, and her husband. However, I know he wouldn't want us to stay down and would want us to make the best of it.
By the time you read this editorial, I'll have a closer idea as to what I can do to honor mom. She will be down in Arkansas, celebrating the graduation of my nephew Ethan, as he earns his masters degree.
I give my well wishing thoughts to all on this upcoming Mother's Day. Mothers are a forced to be reckoned with. To those who do not have their mother in their life-whether your mother chose not to be a part of the picture, or your mother passed away at a very young age, or you are a mother that has lost a child, I see you. I honor you, and I think of you. I hope you take care of yourself during that day, and everyday.