A Brief History of Mother's Day & My Personal Thanks

Mother's Day was actually celebrated for centuries in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Later, it became popular in European nations, such as England and France. When the first English settlers came to America, the Puritans discontinued the celebration because it conflicted with their beliefs. In 1870, Julia Ward Howe, author of "Battle Hymn of the Republic," issued a Mother's Day Proclamation as a reaction to the carnage of the Civil War. Groups of "Mothers for Peace" sprang up across the nation and celebrated the occasion as a protest against war. Many of these mothers had lost sons in the Civil War. These groups eventually died out. Then, in 1908, Anna M. Jarvis, whose own mother had recently passed away, petitioned Congress to designate a national holiday to honor mothers. Ironically, Jarvis herself died childless and impoverished and openly railed against the commercialism of the holiday she helped create. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.
To learn the more in-depth history of Mother's Day, log onto: http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/about-mothersday/history/.
All that having been said, I'd like to now give a personal shout out to my mom, JoAnne Waggoner-- our family's original ObamaGirl. Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Peace, Love, & Happiness!