Who really knows what Mother’s Day is about? I sure didn’t, I was taught in elementary school that Mother’s Day is a day to celebrate the mother in your life. To take a day to spend time with her and revel in being their son or daughter and to thank your mother for all that she did.

Mother’s Day started due to the efforts of Anna Jarvis, a woman who never had any children of her own and was moved by the death of her own mother. So she wanted everyone to send an intimate day/evening/time with their mother where she wouldn’t have a chance to do so herself.

However, as it was for all “special occasion” days, it quickly became commercialized and Anna’s original idea of an intimate Mother’s Day dissipated. How? She felt that the idea of giving your mother a greeting card as opposed to writing a letter or creating a card yourself promoted sloth and idleness.

So when Mother’s Day became more and more commercialized, the woman that originally fought to create Mother’s Day in the first place, now found herself fighting against what it had become.

In the end, Mother’s Day is as it has become today… and I think in a way that Anna couldn’t see over a century ago is that people still spend time with their mothers. The joy of the freedom of choice is a chance to spend time with your mother in the best way that you see fit. For some it may be a few hours. For others it may be just the day… or others still, like myself… it’ll be more of a weekend, if not a week. =)

So happy Mother’s Day for all the mothers out there… and for everyone else, how are you planning to spend Mother’s Day?