The plight of the (Mormon) Mother

I stayed true to my Saturday commitment of pretty much doing nothing (in pj's until nooner) which meant I spent a LOT of time on the internet this morning perusing blogs. The theme of the day was (the dreaded) Mother's Day celebration tomorrow. Does anyone know how this holiday even begun? I don't know the answer; sorry to disappoint.

As I was blog-stalking it was very apparent that very few people enjoy the day. A lot of my blog-stalking was on Mormon women blogs and the dreaded Sunday service with the token gift, the make-you-feel-guilty talks, the awkward comments by a member of the Bishopric. It was surprising how many woman don't go to church on Mother's Day. So perhaps it is time for the Bishopric member conducting to wish all the Mother's a happy day and call it good.

And on another note, maybe it is time for (Mormon) women to stop trying to do everything. I seriously cannot believe as I read the blogs how many are baking bread, making baby food, sewing aprons, organizing the neighborhood carpool, planting a garden, and just flat-out being far too 'perfect'. I don't buy one bit of it. These women are going to end up on Prozac one day from the depression of being perfect. Come over to my world and stay in your pj's until noon. :)

That was a major tangent...

So I wanted to share some of my memories of Mother's Day at church throughout the years.

I remember during my elementary school years the whole "would all the Mother's in the congregation please stand up" being said from the pulpit and a women named Sis. Christensen always winning the prize for the most children (and yes there was a prize) year after year. And as a child I thought it was fascinating and I loved seeing how many children were in each family.

Then during my junior high/high school years I remember my Mother threatening our lives if we forgot to buy her a corsage to wear to church or if we weren't up early enough to make her breakfast in bed (sorry Mom; we were selfish). And I just remember my Mother hating Mother's day and dreading it each year. So it just wasn't fun; it was more of a must-get-through-day type of thing.

During the days of my singles ward it was fine but a bit dumb that sometimes they would pass out a token gift. Um, hi none of us were Mother's (well most of us anyway). I never knew the purpose of that.

This post is going on far longer than it should have, tune out now if you need to.

So over the last say 8+ years, sometimes I would go and sometimes I wouldn't. It never was about me being single yet I'm sure many in my family thought that was the reason. It always was just the painful way the church tried to handle it. What finally pushed me over the edge was a time I went to see my Mother and the Bishopric member did the whole "will all the Mother's in the room please stand". First of all, I CANNOT believe any ward still does that. I was VERY surprised but chalked it up to a small town. Right at the start of the service my Mother had told me about a young girl in the ward who had either just had a miscarriage or just lost a baby after trying to get pregnant for many years. I saw her during the ridiculous whose uterus is more fertile routine and she was openly crying. That was it for me. I was D-O-N-E.

So I really don't have an ending to this rambling. I suppose I will say happy Mother's Day to all the Mother's I know. Be glad you have someone that calls you Mother and take pride in it!