Mother's Day -- A New Day To Show Mom Some Appreciation

As Sunday is Mother’s Day, it’s a great time to thank all mothers for who they are.

It’s interesting, as the moms of the 1940s and 1950s look different from the moms of 2011. Thankfully, cosmetic surgery, hair dye, tummy tucks and great shoes do not totally have all to do with the moms of today.

My mom raised six children and worked inside the house while my dad earned a wage that probably today an employee of Burger King would not considering working for such a low wage.

Nonetheless, we were a family and I thank my mom, who is alive today, and continues to work in her yard, set up her rummage sales and remembers all of the names of her children, her 15 grandchildren and 27 great grandchildren (did I say we are Irish?).

As we were growing up, among so many things that my mom accomplished, my mom home-cooked all our meals and packed our school lunches, washed clothes and went through three washing machines during the time I lived at home. My mom was a great role model and remains that to this very day.

Hopefully, all of us are thankful for our mothers and their love, sacrifice and trying.

Many first time moms have the wonderful promise of trying to be the very best moms they can be and surely they will. However, mother and sibling connections are not always what the Hallmark greeting cards glorify about Mother’s Day.

I remember telling one young woman who has a tenuous relationship with her mom, “Hey your mom had you. Be glad for that.” Sure, this might not seem much, but many a baby is not around based on that mother’s decision.

Yet, mothers die, and if they are lucky, die before their children. A true hell must be the mother who goes to her child’s grave. Maybe she does not even have to go because daily that memory is etched forever.

Mothers who have lost their children to cancer, drunk drivers, drugs and on and on are never the same. I know a woman who is 99 years old and has lost all of her children. Her religion gives her a calm, but she talks of each as if they were in the other room ready to bring her a cup of tea.

This Mother’s Day is so special. It’s a day we can begin new. Go to brunch with our mom, put flowers in a vase or plant them in her memory, and on May 8 say a prayer of thanks for our mom who tried.