Mother's Day Abuse

Do you know that Anna Jarvis, the lady who first started the tradition of celebrating the Mother's Day in North America, had to spend all her inheritance money and the rest of her life fighting against the abuse of this holiday? Nine years after the official Mother's Day, commercialization became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. She was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace while protesting for this exploitation and abuse of mother's day celebration.

In the jewelry business 7.8% of the annual revenue in 2008 came from this one day event sale. According to the National Restaurant Industry this the busiest day in the whole year.

Anna was furious and called it laziness when moms were given store bought cards.I verified these information from the wikipedia.

Interviewing ten mothers separately, and informally, I came to this surprising conclusion that nine out of ten did not want to head to the crowded restaurant this day. Rather, they wished that they were treated with some home cooked goodies, or to a picnic, a movie or taken to a theater.

This Mother's Day I miss my Ma very much. I lost her two years ago. As I was thinking of her, something strange happened. As if a small voice within me whispered - who said that she is gone forever?

She is right here in me, my daughter, my baby grand daughter. She is gone but a new baby has come . This is how it happens. The fruit falls , then from the seed another baby plant grows. The basic tree does not vanish! It was strange that I was solaced so easily and became so philosophical.

After that, I took my bead box and created a jewelry . It has all our birthstones of the four generations.

Zoe - amethyst, me- crystal in lieu of diamond, Rinti -ruby and for my mom- sapphire.
The central stone is a cloisonne with designs of a vine. It is wrapped with gold filled wire in a special wire work that is called the divine eye.

My eyes welled up after I finished the piece. I know it was not from eye strain .

Then I mailed it to my daughter.