Mother's Day: A Perspective

Before you read this post, you should be warned that sometimes I jest. Don't be offended. And you should also know that cheapness runs very deep in my family. ;)

On May 12, 1907, Anna Jarvis held a small memorial celebration of her mother's life because that day was the 2nd anniversary of her mother's death. Thereafter, Miss Jarvis pursued making "Mother's Day" into a recognized holiday. On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation, declaring the first national Mother's Day in the U.S. In the years following, Anna Jarvis became disgusted with the increasing commercialization of the holiday and spent the rest of her life fighting against it.

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On May 5, 2010, yours truly stopped by Target for the sole purpose of purchasing Mother's Day cards. I was determined NOT to forget or be late again this year. I read card after card until I found just the one that was perfect for Mother in Law, Mother and Grandmother. I casually flipped the cards over to find that each of these little beauties cost somewhere around five dollars!


Are you following me here? That would be about $20.00 after tax! Just for the cards!

excuse me?

The one I had chosen for Mother in Law was six dollars! Now let me tell you, I am not one of those wives who hates her MIL. In fact, I love my mother in law. She is truly great, and I would happily spend six or even sixty (if I had it) on a nice gift for her, but on a greeting card? It wasn't even handmade or filled with scratch and sniff stickers or anything! For six dollars, I would expect it to be postage paid and to come with a cute little elf who would take it to the P.O. for me!


Needless to say, I quickly looked around to make sure no one I knew was watching me, then shuffled over to the 99cent section. Oh yes I did!  After reading through them, I really didn't like any of those cards, so I inched back toward the expensive section, row by vertical row.  99cents, $1.99, $2.99, $3.99 uh-oh! starting to sweat...moving back to the left again. ahhhh...


Yes.  I. am. just. that. cheap.  Luckily, I found some really nice cards. (fistpumps to shopping somewhat early!) Maybe these cards weren't all flowery and adorned with vellum and silk bows, but they were nice and my kids each signed them by hand, which to me, means a whole lot more than a six dollar card anyway.


I got them mailed on time and in the end, everyone's happy. I am not going to stew any longer about those crooks companies who  take advantage of people's guilt about not having called mom in a long time       shame people into spending six bucks on something mom is probably going to toss anyway     would mean so much more if it were handmade    are only trying to survive the recession.


I call my mom everyday. She knows I love her and she doesn't need me to spend six dollars on a card to prove it. Neither do my Mother in Law or my Grandma, for that matter. 


You know, I'll bet Anna's mom knew she loved her too, and truth be told, she probably didn't need a national holiday to prove it.

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I hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day (and didn't loose your shirt in the card aisle!)

Now, go tell those you love that you do.

0xx0