Mother's Day

The endless commercials, ads and junk mail for holidays, the scramble of Americans to buy useless merchandise with money they don't have (on credit) are so imbecilic and pathetic that I am embarrassed by my fellow humans who spend the money and angry at my fellows who make fools of the aforementioned!

The way we celebrate Mother's Day in this country makes buying a gift for our mothers into an obligation. It's a chore we have to put on our to do list, not to be forgotten lest the wrath of mother fall on our heads. I've felt that way, too. The problem is that there is a designated day to love my mother. I don't need a day. I love her all the time, my dad, too. The other problem with setting a day aside is that we can put off showing our love the rest of the year. Then the day comes, and we haven't thought about Mom for months, and we need to buy something on the run so she isn't hurt. To me, Mother's Day is the 'anti-love your mother' holiday.

Even though I despise Mother's Day and every other holiday trumped up as a merchandising blitz, which is all of them, I still continue to make an effort for my mom, although no one can make me buy her a worthless trinket.

Instead, I usually honor Mother's Day
1) with a visit--truly that's what she wants most in the world from her daughters so I could probably stop at that (The nice thing about a visit is that I get to talk with my dad, too.)
2) with a token--something she can brag about on the phone with her sisters or my sisters. Sometimes I bring her a bouquet of flowers from my garden. One year I knew she wanted a piece of my red honeysuckle, so I potted a volunteer of that for her. Once, I brought her a load of the dirt I make. (Don't laugh. She swoons over my homemade dirt!) Last year, I went with work gloves and helped her clean out a neglected garden bed. That was one of our best years, I think, because we shared something we both love. (By the way, I do that when it's not Mother's Day, too.)

Despite my anger and frustration at consumerism, which spikes on holydays, Pete Rahon managed to inspire me this year! Today he posted flowers for a Mother's Day card on his blog. His message was beautiful and sincere and had absolutely nothing to do with buying a useless product with false money and false intentions. Pete restored my faith in Mother's Day!

Too bad I don't think even Pete's love can fix Christmas.

(Forgive this one rant. I'll try to let it stand for the rest of the holidays as they come around.)