A Different Kind of Mother’s Day
A Different Kind of Mother’s Day
It all started because Anna Jarvis wanted to celebrate her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, for her community organizing during and after the Civil War. She was so convinced that her mother and all mothers should be celebrated that by 1914 she had convinced President Woodrow Wilson to officially declare the second Sunday in May as a national holiday for Mothers.
This is my first mother’s day without my mother. It’s been 29 days since she took her last breath.
I miss her and I am glad that she is no longer suffering.
She was a complex woman, and we had a complex relationship.
As a woman, I admire her for living well outside of the social norms of her generation. I appreciate that she forged the path of independent thinking and staying true to your heart.
I would have loved having an older friend like her.
It was hard being her daughter.
I wonder what Ann Reeves Jarvis was like as a mother . . .
Writing my mother’s obituary was a delicate balancing act between a creating a fluffy piece that highlighted a few key moments and writing a full expose’.
In the end, I chose kindness over malice.
“Grace Hart was known for her generous heart and her ability to see the good in nearly everyone she encountered. In her quiet way, she was a staunch feminist and instilled the belief that women could do anything into the hearts and minds of her children, especially her three daughters. Throughout her life, Grace pushed the boundaries of social norms and redefined marriage over and over again long before most could have even imagined our current times.”
Grace Hart, 87, born in Topeka, Kansas as the second daughter to Raymond and Elizabeth Kinney, was an artist, innovator, social radical, Pagan Priestess, a mother to five, grandmother to 12, and great-grandmother to 12.
