OLd Moms

 

                     Grandmas Are Old Moms.

Old moms talk on a plastic play phone with their grandchild for half an hour, listening to the little one describe the scary dream from the night prior, including spaceships and monsters.

Old moms always have band-aids to put on invisible wounds and kisses to make them better.

They will give their grandchildren a "little nibble" a half hour before a meal to "time them over" so they don't starve, and every meal at their house always includes dessert.

Old moms don't pay too much attention to "bedtime" and often read one more story, chat, or snuggle a little longer.

Old moms have lots of room for pictures in their purses, and as they show others these pictures, they ramble on about the cuteness, smartness, perfection, and " one-of-a-kindness" of the one pictured.

Old moms always have the time to listen to a joke, laugh, and slap their knees like it's the funniest joke they've ever heard. When a grandchild goes to the store and climbs up on a platform next to a mannequin, knocks the mannequin's arm off, and stares at it with amazement and wonder, the old mom is not at all embarrassed or tempted to discipline, but instead chuckles and grabs her phone to take a picture. 

Old moms sit for hours building architectural wonders and replicas of castles out of blocks and "eat" all culinary creations made for her out of Play-Dough. 

When asking a potty-training grandchild how things went in the bathroom and if any help was needed, old moms try to remain stoic. They listen to a description of the big one that occurred. 

Old moms get tired a lot, just like regular moms, but they always find the time to nap.

When the tears come, no matter how old the grandchild or how great the infraction, the old mom will always take time to listen, sympathize, and comfort. She will hug and encourage and share words of wisdom she has learned during all the years before she was an old mom. She will let the grandchild know that everything always will turn out just right. Mostly, she will pray that God will make good on her old mom's promise.

With any luck, all moms will someday get to experience all the joy of being an old mom, and then they will realize that all the trials and angst of being a mom were part of God's blessing for them and that all the tears and sleepless nights were so TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Written by an old mom, Margaret Campbell.

                      Mother's Day 

For centuries, some forms of Mother's Day have been celebrated in different parts of the world.

It did not start in the U.S. until the end of the Civil War.

In 1868, Ann Reeves Jarvis, who lived in West Virginia, started the first "Mothers' Friendship Day" by inviting the mothers of former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation.

Ms. Jarvis was helped when Julia Ward Howe wrote the "Mother's Day Proclamation" in 1870. She called for the mothers to organize and promote world peace. 

Ann Reeves Jarvis died in 1905. Her daughter, Anna Jarvis, took over for her mother's idea. 

In 1908, Anna Jarvis convinced Philadelphia store owner John Wanamaker to financially support her efforts. In May 1908, she held the first official Mother's Day observance at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. On the same day, Mr. Wanamaker held an event at one of his retail stores in Philadelphia, which thousands of people attended.

Anna Jarvis then started a substantial letter-writing campaign to make Mother's Day the national calendar.

She wanted it to be a special day to honor motherhood, as she contended the other holidays honored male achievements. In 1912, she established the Mother's Day International Association. 

President Woodrow Wilson (in 1914) signed a document officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. 

By 1920, Anna Jarvis decried the commercialization of Mother's Day. She saw it as a day for families to be with their mothers. She did not like flowers, cards, and candy taking over. She disowned the national holiday. She never married or had children. She died in 1948.

My mom was Dorothy Stinson. She was born in 1915. She married Bob Stinson, and they had three children. She lived to see her six grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

We still think of her today. She loved us, taught us, and prayed for us. A little bit of her lives on in each of us. 

I hope you spend a happy day with your mother or have good memories of her on Mother's Day.

 

Mothers' Day

                                                   Happy Mother's Day

Thank you to the ancient Greeks and Romans for starting the idea of Mother's Day.   The festivals for the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele were filled with color and feasting.  The Christians thought this was a good idea, and so they started Mothering Sunday.

It became a major tradition in the United Kingdom and some places in Europe, and it was on the fourth Sunday in Lent.  This was the day the faithful would return to the mother church in the vicinity of their home.  Years later, it became a secular holiday with flowers and gifts.  As time went by, it faded from popularity, and then the holiday arrived in America.

Its beginnings were in the US before the Civil War.  Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia helped start  Mother's Day Work Clubs to teach mothers how to care for their children.  After the Civil War, the name was changed to Mother's Friendship Day, so mothers of  Union soldiers and mothers of Confederate soldiers could reconcile.

There were women who were tired of the men in political control and, in their minds, were prone to get the nations into wars.  During the Civil War, the women managed the farms, worked in the cities, raised their children, paid taxes, and more. After the Civil War, the fourteenth amendment was passed.  It freed African American men and made them citizens. However, the women were ignored. Women's Suffrage began.  

Julia Ward Howe was a prominent leader. She became active in the movement because she was married to an abusive husband, and according to the laws of the time, the children would belong to the father if the wife left the marriage.  She joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who believed women had a human right to equality with men. 

Later Juliet Blakely, Mary Sasseen, and Frank Hering worked to organize Mother's Day for Temperance.  Mr. Hering is called by some as the father of Mother's Day.

Anna Jarvis's mother died in 1905, and Anna wanted to honor her and other mothers and started a national campaign to establish Mother's Day. It became a hit when the John Wanamaker department store in Philadelphia held a service in its auditorium to honor mothers. The retailers saw the profits from selling gifts for this special day.

Mothers were celebrated in 45 states by 1909.

Mother's Day became official in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson established the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

In Thailand, Mother's Day is celebrated in August on the birthday of Queen Sirikit.  In Ethiopia, they celebrate for many days, where they sing songs and eat a large feast as part of Antrosht (the name of their Mother's Day).

Blessed be the hand that prepares a pleasure for a child, for there is no saying when and where it may bloom forth. By Douglas Jerrold

                                                                       My Mother

If I were asked to give a thought which in one word would speak

A unity of brotherhood, sympathy complete,

A hundred happy cheery ways, a mind that knows its own,

Contented midst a throng of folk, yet peaceful when alone,

A heart that sheds its silent glow to brighten many another,

Without a moment of delay, I'd say, "You mean my mother."

Author Unknown 

The things in my life that are worthy

    Were born in my mother's breast,

And breathed into mine by the magic

    Of the love her life expressed.

The years that have brought me to manhood (and womanhood)

    Have taken her far from me;

 But memory keeps me from straying

    Too far from my mother's knee.

  By John H. Styles, Jr. 

The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother. Napoleon

There are teachings in earth and sky and air,

The heavens the glory of God declare;

But louder than voice, beneath, above,

He is heard to speak through a mother's love.

By Emily Taylor

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms and Grandmoms.