In the Words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, “Youth fades, love drops, the leaves of friendship fall, and a mother’s secret hope outlives them all.”

It’s hard to believe that another year has passed since we last celebrated Mother’s Day but, yes, and in just a few short days we will be celebrating Mother’s Day again.

It is a given fact that mothers have a tremendous amount of influence on their children, grandchildren, and others in their community, and around the globe including our very beautiful Federation of Saint Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis.

However, just like me, there are many others out there who were raised by their loving and caring Grandmother who played several roles, like Mother, Grandmother, Father, Grandfather, Aunt, Uncle, Friend, Defender, Leader, Doctor, Nurse, Preacher, just to name a few.

Thus, I was very fortunate to have a loving and caring Grandmother who played all of the roles mention above and then some more, and so, I dedicated the below poem in honor to her.

Happy Mother’s Day (Grandmother)

Although you have gone,

I will always sing along,

About the wonderful things,

That you have created in me,

I have missed you so much,

That all I can wish for is luck,

That hopefully one day in the future,

We will eventually be reunited forever.

Mothers are not rare to find but good mothers are. We all will agree that Mothers/Grandmothers are wise and always right. We all have grown up on the wisdom and advice of our moms, and most of this good old fashion advice, rather lessons, remain with us forever and keep guiding us through life’s turbulent rough sea.

However, simple research has clearly shown that the celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as ”Mothering Sunday.”

Once a major tradition in the United Kingdom (UK) and parts of Europe, This celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their “mother’s church,” the main church in the vicinity of their home, for a special service.

Over time, the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mother’s Day. However, today Mother’s Day is celebrated in more than one hundred (100) countries around the world though at difference times in the month of May, and in some countries it is celebrated in entirely different times of the year.

What is remarkable, however, is that feelings are the same with people celebrating Mother’s Day, and this is so, because mothers are as caring and loving in the East as they are in the West.

In today’s world, let us stop and take the time to give much thanks to the hard work of two pioneering women of their times, Julia Ward Howe and Anna M. Jarvis that the day came into existence and is now internationally recognized as the day to honor all mothers and thank them for the services they impart for the benefit of their individual child and consequently to the development of mankind.

However, Julia Ward Howe will always be revered for her contributions in bestowing dignity to women and motherhood. Moreover, in her various social capacities Julia Ward Howe also work tirelessly for justice throughout her life, and fought aggressively for women’s right to vote, and struggled to liberate women from the old traditional confines of home.

Apart from the above and more, she was renowned as the author of the famous song, ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ and the Mother’s Day Proclamation.

The history books have recorded and clearly show that just like Julia Ward Howe, its pages could not be completed without the input of Anna M. Jarvis who resolved in her determination to pay tribute to her mother.

However, after further research, it was revealed that at the tender age of twelve (12) Anna was present when her mother, Mrs. Jarvis said a moving prayer to conclude her lesson of the Bible that goes like this, “I hope that someone sometime will find a memorial Mother’s Day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it. I thank so. What do you think?

The plain truth is, just like Julia Ward Howe, Anna M. Jarvis dedicated her life to fulfill her mother’s dream of the recognition of a day for honoring all mothers, and even though Anna M. Jarvis never married and never had children, she was one of the founders of the modern Mother’s Day, and she was also known as Mother of Mother’s Day, an apt title for this lady who worked tirelessly to bestow honor and dignity on all mothers globally.

Thus, traditionally people take the day as an opportunity to pay tribute to their mothers and thank them for all their love and support. In fact, in some countries even up to today, it is potentially offensive to one’s mother not to mark Mother’s Day.

Suffice it to say that after nine years (9) of the first official United States of America (USA) Mother’s Day, commercialisation of the holiday became so rampant that Anna M. Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become and spent all her inheritance and the rest of her life fighting what she saw as an abuse of the celebration.

It is, however, possible that the holiday would have withered over time without the support and continuous promotion of the florist industries and other commercial industries; we will never know the answer to this and other questions now being raised.

I wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers’ right here in our very beautiful Federation of Saint Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis and by extension all over the world.

As I take my leave for today, I leave you with a Mother’s Day quote by Ann Taylor, a Mother’s Poem, a Mother’s Day Recipe, and a Mother’s Day song.

“Who ran to help me when I fell, and would some pretty story tell, or kiss the place to make it well? My Mother (Grandmother)” – Ann Taylor.

Only One Mother

Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky,

Hundreds of birds that go singing by,

Hundreds of lambs in the sunny weather,

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,

Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,

Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn, but

Only one mother the world over.

A Mother’s Day Recipe

Bake Shrimp Scampi.

Ingredients:

1 Pound large shrimp peeled and deveined

1 Cup unsalted butter

¼ Cup white wine

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

3 Tablespoons dried parsley

1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

½ Cup Italian-seasoned bread crumbs

Directions:

1.   Place shrimp into a sauce pan, cover with water to a depth of 2 inches over shrimp, and bring to a boil. Cover pan and cook until shrimp are pink. 2 to 3 minutes, drain.

2.   Combine butter, white wine, lemon juice, parsley and garlic in a 2-quart casserole dish.

3.   Place casserole dish in oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

4.   When butter is melted, lighted toss shrimp in butter mixture until coated. Sprinkle bread crumbs over shrimp.

5.   Bake in the preheat oven until bread crumbs are lightly golden brown, about fifteen minutes.

Prep – 15 minutes: Cook 20 minutes; Ready in 35 minutes.

Thank You Mom (Grandmother)

Lyrics & Music: Good Charlotte.

I’m sitting here, I’m thinking back to a time when I was young,

My memory is clear as day, I’m listening to the dishes clink,

You were downstairs; you would sing songs of praise,

And all the times we laughed with you,

And all the times that you stayed true to me,

Now we say, I said, I thank you; I’ll always thank you,

More than you could know, than I could ever show,

And I love you; I’ll always love you,

There’s nothing I won’t do to say these words to you,

That you’re beautiful forever, you were my mom,

You were my dad, the only thing I ever had was you, it’s true,

And even when the times got hard you were there,

To let us know that we’d get through, you showed me how to be a man,

You taught me how to understand the things people do,

You showered me how to love my God,

You taught me that not everyone knows the truth,

And I thank you; I’ll always thank you,

More than you could know, than I could ever show,

And I love you; I’ll always love you,

There’s nothing I won’t do to say these words to you,

That you will live forever, always in my heart.