Mum’s the Word
Once again, the calendar says it is time to celebrate Mom. I asked the same question last year: why do we need a holiday to remember our beloved mothers? The Word of God says to honor thy father and mother as a commandment. Anna Jarvis, as a woman defined by her faith, I am positive this motivated her to strive to have a day set aside for people in the United States to celebrate their mothers with a recognized day. This May 11 marks 100 years of celebrating Mom. So, what’s the word today? Mum’s the Word! My Mum!
The inspiration of Anna Jarvis reminds me of my mum, my mommy, my Mom, Bessie. Mom didn’t discover a vaccine, secure a patent, invent a widget, or even attain higher education degrees like her children. Her achievements include her movement to get her five children educated in the best schools her working-class background could afford and raise well-mannered children who fear God. I salute my Mom, not just as a mother of five, grandmother to three, and great-grandmother to three, but as a seven-year breast cancer survivor. I am truly blessed to have learned kindness, generosity, and compassion from my Mum.
My parents, who lived in racially mixed sections of Philadelphia, raised me in Mt Airy. Little did I know and appreciate then that Germantown was so rich in history and played a significant role in American history. What I do remember is, as a child, walking up and down Germantown Avenue on Saturdays, going to the Orpheum movie theater, and passing all the beautiful, well-maintained stone historic buildings that I didn’t pay much attention to as I passed by.
Funny what you do remember from childhood, like, I do remember mamma shopped at a small boutique-like store nestled among the quaintness of Germantown and Chelten Avenues across the street from Linton’s and down the street from the Orpheum movie theater called Sabra Lee. As seen in the first photo, Mom looks pretty sophisticated as a twenty-six-year-old wearing a brown houndstooth coat while I sit on the bench shelling peanuts at the Philadelphia Zoo.
The joy of motherhood, my own. I am blessed with two children, Channing and Tyler, who are grown and thriving independently. When I was pregnant with my firstborn, the one comment I recall being told to me was to enjoy motherhood because it goes by so fast. How true that motherhood has quickly gone by. I am grateful that I could stop working in the early days of my children’s lives. I was able to stop and smell the roses while enjoying their childhood. I love that I still maintain excellent relationships with both as adults.
If you still have your mum with you, you relish her in every way possible and as often as possible. Happy Mother’s Day to the mothers reading this Mum’s word message.