George Washington once said, "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her."

I think George summed it up nicely about how most of us feel about our mothers. This Sunday we will again set aside a day to honor those great folks who brought us into the world, wiped our behinds, helped us with our homework and molded us into the adults we are today.

How It All Began

All mothers owe a debt of gratitude to Anna Jarvis, a Philadelphia resident, who first suggested the celebration after the death of her mother. White carnations were her choice of flower for Mother’s Day and Woodrow Wilson signed the order for the first official Mother’s Day in 1914.

Unfortunately, nine years later, Anna became upset with the escalating commercialism of Mother’s Day and filed a lawsuit that she eventually lost. She felt Mother’s Day should be a day of prayer and remembrance, rather than a day of cards, candy, and dinners out.

Other Mom’s Day Trivia

Rose Kennedy once said, "I looked on child-rearing not only as a work of love and duty, but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world, and one that demanded the best that I could bring it."

Buddha honored mothers when he said, "As a mother, even at the risk of her own life, loves and protects her child, so let a man cultivate love without measure toward the whole world."

An early champion of women’s rights was Julia Ward Howe who penned the words to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She felt that mother’s who were left alone as their sons and husbands marched off and died in war, should be remembered. She organized a protest in Boston to bring attention to the results of the bloody Franco-Prussian War.

Some Final Thoughts

It’s probably a little unfair for a male to be expected to comprehend what motherhood is like so I won’t even remotely attempt that. What I can comment on is my own Mom. Those of you who catch my Saturday show have heard Dan Jessen’s voice proclaiming me as, “Mrs. Egelhoff’s favorite son.”

I think if my mother were still around she’d probably be asking Dan for a clarification of the word “favorite.”

However, I will say this. My dad taught me what a man does; my mother taught me how a man acts. In my younger years I didn’t always act as I should but I’m trying to make up for it now. So, Happy Mother’s Day MOM from your “trying as hard as I can to be your favorite son.”

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