Mother’s Day Planning

Birthdays, Anniversaries, Christmas and New Years are on everyone’s calendar; but if you overlook Mother’s Day you may as well start scoping out the dog house for the rest of the year. I was in a planning meeting this morning at church where one fairly minor detail took the spotlight; what to kind of token handout should be given the lovely ladies as a means of letting each of them know they are appreciated next Sunday on Mother’s Day.

In years past there have been two traditional gifts; a single cut rose or a small plant with some kind of small flower. This morning’s discussion centered on which one, the rose or the plant that dies on the window sill within a week, which is more desired. I never had given it much thought, naively believing perhaps that any gift offered would be sufficient as a small token of the gratitude we all share for motherhood and all that conjures; nurturing, caring, teaching and so on.

“Well, if we give a single rose it might remind some of them of how their husbands should have given them roses.” I would hope that husbands give their wives cut flowers from time to time, roses are fine; but almost any sign of affection that can be placed in a simple vase during a meal will work. I vote for a single cut flower, carnations or roses are easily handed out at the end of our meetings and will last for a couple of days as a reminder that a kind thought was sent their way.

“My wife always feels guilty for murdering yet another small plant that sits in the window. We either water it to death, let it die of drought, it gets too much sun, not enough sun; you get the idea.” I’ve always thought that handing out those small live plants made women feel good; springtime being the start of new life and all those nurturing feelings, but what do I know?

“We could give them chocolate; say those little hearts that Dove makes? It would stay with them forever.” A not too reverent burst of laughter followed the fact that anything with calories that taste as good as chocolate will go straight to the waist. You can see how planning something as simple as a Mother’s Day handout has turned into a national dilemma worthy of Henry Kissinger’s advice.

"I’d like to change my vote from roses to chocolates. We can hand the ladies a beautifully wrapped piece of chocolate with an all encompassing Mother’s Day thought tied to it with a fancy piece of ribbon, let them carry on about how they wouldn’t dare eat it and then volunteer to save them from a fate worse than death by eating the very same chocolate we wanted for ourselves to begin with; everyone goes home from church happy and if there are any left over we can eat them at the next planning meeting."

The names of those persons offering suggestions have been omitted to protect their identities much as the opening lines from the old black and white television series, Dragnet. Any similarity to members of prominence are purely coincidental and should in no way reflect our incompetence when understanding what goes on in a woman’s mind. If only we’d had input from the Relief Society during our meeting none of this would have come up; we’d simply have asked, “What would you like us to do?” and we’d have gone along obediently.

Picture courtesy of Russian Flora, (linked via title bar)