Here’s a holiday I’ve never understood. I love my mother 365 days a year and one day a year I’m made to feel guilty about not remembering it. This holiday also causes LightHusband much consternation because my birthday comes so close. My children love me 365 days a year (although last night I may have been heard to grumble under my breath, “What I really want tomorrow is a day with no arguing.” as we were clearing and setting the table for dinner). It just all seems to be a national guilt trip and I don’t care to participate … thank you very much.

I did when I was younger. I saved my money and purchased a small figurine for my mother that said “World’s Best Mother” at the bottom. It’s very funny because the figurine is the antithesis of my mother. She gave it to LightGirl to give to me a couple of years ago. So now it’s in my house and I’m the “World’s Best Mother.” It’s also the antithesis of me. We both giggle about it.

But … this morning (HT to Maggi Dawn) I discovered the roots of Mothers Day. God bless our greeting card industry and their pea pickin’ little hearts, because I never knew about this. This makes Mothers Day so much more palatable. It was begun as day for the nation (not families) to honor mothers and the sacrifices they made. And it was begun as part of the women’s suffrage movement. Ironic then, how cloying it has become. There are three women responsible for Mothers Day. A mother and daughter with the same name, Anna Jarvis, and Julia Ward Howe, better known for her authorship of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

I feel a bit better about the holiday now. I also feel a bit cheated. What a great heritage we women have. The herstory of women has been warped and bent til it’s nearly unrecognizable. Maybe that’s what I’ll be when I grow up … a women’s “her”storian.