Warning: if you love Mother’s Day, don’t read on. 

Personally, I try to ignore it every year. Though not an easy task when bombarded by commercial appeals for gifts, cards, flowers….you name it. All it takes is a browse-through a card shop and I’m in tears. I miss my mother and the missing will never go away.

My biggest complaint about this day is that it is no longer personal. It would be lovely if people simply honored their mother quietly at home. In whatever manner they think best. Perhaps taking some of her daily responsibility upon their own shoulders. Sometimes I think they would appreciate that gesture much more than cards and gifts.

But no, this “holiday” is wide spread and you can’t escape it. Unfortunately it has infiltrated our churches. I know many women who will no longer attend church on Mother’s Day. It’s not worth the insensitivity and the embarrassment. If you’ve lost your mother and/or never had children, you understand. While more than half the church are honored, lauded and paraded before the congregation, you sit with the minority and want to crawl under the pew. And it gets worse if they try to point you out as “mothers of the church,” trying to find some appropriate title to include you in their celebration. Count me out.

My husband and I have a standing joke of who will be the first to put their foot in their mouth and wish me a happy mother’s day. It’s guaranteed within the church but one year I was standing on the church steps waiting for the door to be unlocked, when a neighbor strode by and called out a happy mothers day to me. I couldn’t even get in the building without it! And this year, we’re ahead by many days, as an office supply rep wished me a happy mothers day mid-week! Sorry people, not all women are mothers. I’m going to spend some time with other motherless and kidless friends that day and quietly, simply honor the memory of our own dear mothers.

Rant over, and I did warn you…