By Anna Geannopoulos
Last weekend I went to more historical places in Savannah than I have in the past three years of living here. My mom and Aunt were in town, and as we roamed from colonial houses to giant cemeteries, after each trip they would turn to me and say, “I hope I didn’t embarrass you too much.”
“For what?” I would ask, and they would cite examples of how they embarrassingly asked the tour guide too many questions or embarrassingly thanked them too much. I looked at them, dumbfounded. But then it hit me: they both have teenage daughters. They are used to never ending eye rolls and moms said in a certain tone of voice after every comment they make.
Today is Mother’s Day and if you forgot, don’t fret, I have an idea for you. Simply call your mother and tell her that regardless of what she does she could never embarrass you.
In 1907 Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia founded the holiday in memorial of her late mother. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day an official holiday, and today it is celebrated around the world.
Although later on in her life Jarvis tried to abolish the holiday because she disagreed with the commercialism of cards and gifts associated with the day, I don’t think she’ll mind if we honor the motherly figures in our lives.
Think about it: we were all teenagers once. We all rolled our eyes at our moms and told them to stay out of our business and slammed doors in their faces. They stuck by us through sarcasm, screams and silent treatments.
One of the best things about college is realizing that you’ve been treating your most loyal friend very poorly for far too long. And one of the kindest mother’s day gifts you can give is to tell that friend, your mother, that no matter what you will love them, just like they loved you, for being themselves.
