How To Fight Bed Bugs

When Anna Jarvis stood at her mother's gravesite nearly one hundred years ago, she vowed to fabricate a day to honor not only the mother in her own life--but to honor mothers everywhere. The activism she observed firsthand in her mother's fight to improve the living conditions of those battling poverty motivated her to carry on an activist task of her own: celebrating mothers who had come before her, mothers in her own lifetime, and mothers whose times had not yet come.

The tradition of giving white carnations to mothers was started just a couple years later, and within nine years--with the U.S. Congress passing a joint resolution--Mother's Day was officially established to celebrate a woman's role in the family.

The holiday was never to have been made into a commercial brouhaha. Indeed, Anna Jarvis would be rolling over in her grave with the success of Hallmark's Mother's Day revenues alone. For she desired that the day be illustrious with sentiment rather than with profit; that flowers and hand-written notes of appreciation be given away.

So just how can we celebrate Mother's Day as a holiday with those we love--and yet honor the wishes of its founder? How can we encourage others to express loving sentiments to us--rather than encourage them to buy loving sentiments? And where does chocolate fit into the Mother's Day equation for crying out loud?!?

Get started:

Encourage handmade. I have saved every one of the handcrafted cards my children have ever made me. Cute as they are upon presentation, they are downright priceless a decade later. Call me a sentimental schmuck: the same hand that wrote my first Mother's Day card is now filling out college applications. Don't ever let your kids buy commercial Mother's Day cards. Make sure they know where the stamps, ink pads, stickers, glitter (I know I know), glue, colored markers, art pencils, and blank writing materials are stored in your home. And encourage their creativity.

Encourage home baked. There is, after all, nothing quite like breakfast in bed. Especially on Mother's Day. It reads: "I adore you, my love. Stay in bed awhile. Relax. You've worked so hard." Or something like that. You get the idea. Encourage your entourage to treat you with home baked coffeecake, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, or buttered toast; they'll be extra because your hubby and children made them just for you. Even if they whacked the can against the kitchen counter to yield those slight tasties, go with it and relish the moment.

Encourage home cooked. But only if he can do it. I mean, seriously, if the guy can't boil water, don't expect him to yield a gourmand six-course dinner. Much great to go to your local diner. But if he becomes inspired to cook for you--as mine did only once in twenty-two years--then go for it. Relax on your beloved upholstered chair and let him go crazy in your kitchen, if just for a day.

Encourage hand picked. Ok. It's a stretch. But expensive roses are not for everybody, you know. While a bouquet of hand-picked wild flowers may or may not cut it for me, a bunch of daffodils would. As would a particular lovely hyacinth. If the scent of spring flowers wafting through your home arouses your aesthetic sensibilities, then tell hubby that this year, you'd prefer sprouted bulbs.

Get brilliant:

For those of us too addicted to our society's conceived notions of the proper care and feeding of mother on Mother's Day, here are a few more options.

Go fancy. Leave the kids at home and let hubby treat his queen to the most excellent cafeteria he can afford. Mother's Day comes but once a year, after all. Get gussied up, dressed up, and psyched up for a night out on the town. Splurge big-time. No holds barred. It'll fill your tank for months.

Go custom. Encourage hubby to treat you to something that you undoubtedly undoubtedly want. Granted, the elm wood Venetian easel with a lovely oil end that I've asked for might not turn you on, but it is what I undoubtedly undoubtedly want for Mother's Day this year. My oil paintings have taken over our major living areas and I need other easel. But the explore would say: you could probably care less for that. What do you dearly desire? Put a bug in hubby's ear and encourage him to surprise you on Mother's Day. A spring outfit? Cute handbag? New perfume? Pedicure? It's easy. Just let your kids frame it out and they'll pass it on to the wallet-holder in no time.

Go chocolate. It's always the answer. I don't care what the request is. The predilection for chocolate is nearly universally human--as proven by at least seventeen university studies--and carries back, by some estimates, to more than 75,000 years. Early explorers in South America used it as currency and sold it in solid bars. My beloved is as bitter and dark as you'll ever find, with 85% cocoa. Yours might be sweet milk chocolate. Indulge. But be careful. You don't want to die from chocolate-induced coma on Mother's Day.

Go easy. Most of all, you need a break on Mother's Day. Put your feet up. Get comfortable. Relax with a book. Or a magazine. Allow yourself the dizzying liberation of being downright lazy for just one day.

Most importantly, love the ones you're with. My guess is they are the very ones who made you a mommy in the first place.

Happy, happy Mother's Day!