A Salute to Motherhood

The very first Mother's Day was celebrated May 10, 1908, and was originally organized by Anna Jarvis in West Virginia and Philadelphia. As the idea of the annual celebration became more popular across the country, Jarvis asked members of Congress to set aside a day to honor mothers. She succeeded in 1914, and the second Sunday in May come to be used as a day to honor our mothers worldwide. It is now also recorded as the busiest phone day, with 68 percent of Americans calling Mom, totaling approximately 123 million phone calls.

In my quest to properly salute motherhood, I came across a few interesting facts that I simply feel the need to share. In the vast majority of the world's languages, the word for "mother" or "mom" begins with the letter M. The world's oldest mother, Satyabhama Mahapatra, a retired 65 year old schoolteacher in India, became a first-time mom in 2003 with her baby boy.  The child was concieved via artificial insemination after fifty years of marriage.  Controversially, the youngest documented mother is Lina Medina of Peru. She was five years, seven months old when she delivered a six and a half pound boy in 1939. The child was raised as her brother, and only learned who his birth mother was at the age of ten.  

There were also several celebrity facts that I found intriguing. It hadn't occurred to me before that so many famous men were or are such "mama's boys." For example, Eric Clapton was raised believing his grandparents were his parents  and his mother was his sister. His birth mother was an unwed woman, and his family wanted to shield him from the shame of that stigma in the mid 1940's. In the popular show Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, most of the sweaters Mr. Rogers is seen to wear were knitted by his real-life mother. Elvis Presley, however, may be the most shocking bit of news I found. Until reaching puberty, he slept in the same bed as his mother, Gladys, who also walked him to and from school everyday through high school. She had him take his own silverware so that he wouldn't catch germs from other kids, and forbade him to go swimming or do anything that could potentially harm him. It is also said they spoke in a "baby talk" that only they could understand.

Initially, when I sat down to start this, I planned to tell you about the incredible day I shared with my family. My mother and I take care of my ill grandmother, 24/7. We are grateful for every day we share with her, and try to take special pains for every extra holiday we share as a full family. Today was beautiful, perfect, and memorable. That was our goal. Instead of boring you with my family's outing, on behalf of children everywhere, I'd like to thank the mamas for your patience, understanding, thoughtfulness, sacrifice, lessons taught, ability to listen, tears dried, laughter shared, and so much more. Moms everywhere deserve so much more than a single day a year of our appreciation, and I'd like to think that this is only the beginning of a salute to the joyous challenge that is motherhood.