Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Turley Blog Moms (the other Moms will have to join to be appreciated).
Of course, Mother’s Day pales in comparison to that more grand even: Father’s Day. We will forget about today’s story of the ravages of Mother Nature and such infamous characters as Ma Parker. After all, without mothers, there would be no Father’s Day.
My mother Angela Turley is still flourishing in Chicago and is the light of my life. My daughter Madie was born on her birthday and has the same spunky spirit. At 82, she is currently in her bed after dancing salsa all night with Argentine friends. She does understand why she is so tired this morning.
It is a day worth acknowledgment and celebration. I am busy making grits and eggs for “she who must be obeyed.” Leslie is the least high maintenance Mom in the world. Just eggs and grits and a Starbucks is what she views as a perfect Mother’s Day (the four kids and I will try to expand on that list).
I bought some great North Carolina grits at a restaurant that I heartily recommend to any Turley bloggers in North Carolina. It is Parker and Otis located at 112 South Duke Street, Durham, NC. The place is housed in a former tobacco warehouse and is run by a couple that knows good food and service. Jennings Brody used to work for Williams Sonoma and worked in the gourmet food industry before opening the place a few years ago with her husband.
I go there when we visit my in-laws in Durham and recently had a grits emergency. We went on a Friday only to find that grits were not on the menu for that day. When we came back on Saturday, I was crushed to learn that they had run out. Seeing my shattered demeanor, Brody (who I had never met and did not know me from Adam) immediately came over and said breakfast was on her. I had the chance to speak with her and I was amazed at their success in this economy — an example of how quality still drives business in some non-banking industry. The place is also candy mecca for kids (which is why our kids love the place). For those slobs in the area that forgot Mother’s Day, take your wives to Parker and Otis and say it was part of the plan all along. Brody is saavy enough to cover for you and say that your table is waiting.
Happy Mother’s Day to All!
pardon me?, I didn’t know that, I thought it was a Hallmark holiday. Thanks, I have a lot more respect for the holiday after reading yoour posting.
I remember reading that Mother’s Day involved protesting the killing of sons. It began as a peace movement.
fyi
http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/about-mothersday/history/
“Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamaition of 1870
The first North American Mother’s Day was conceptualized with Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870. Despite having penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic 12 years earlier, Howe had become so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on Mother’s to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their Sons killing the Sons of other Mothers. With the following, she called for an international Mother’s Day celebrating peace and motherhood:
Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise all women who have hearts,
Whether your baptism be that of water or of tears
Say firmly:
“We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of
charity, mercy and patience.
“We women of one country
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says, “Disarm, Disarm!”
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice!
Blood does not wipe out dishonor
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have of ten forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war.
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions.
The great and general interests of peace.
The Rise & Fall of Howe’s Mother’s Day
At one point Howe even proposed converting July 4th into Mother’s Day, in order to dedicate the nation’s anniversary to peace. Eventually, however, June 2nd was designated for the celebration. In 1873 women’s groups in 18 North American cities observed this new Mother’s holiday. Howe initially funded many of these celebrations, but most of them died out once she stopped footing the bill. The city of Boston, however, would continue celebrating Howe’s holiday for 10 more years.
Despite the decided failure of her holiday, Howe had nevertheless planted the seed that would blossom into what we know as Mother’s Day today. A West Virginia women’s group led by Anna Reeves Jarvis began to celebrate an adaptation of Howe’s holiday. In order to re-unite families and neighbors that had been divided between the Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War, the group held a Mother’s Friendship Day.
Anna M. Jarvis’s Mother’s Day in 1908
After Anna Reeves Jarvis died, her daughter Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official Mother’s Day in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace. In 1908, Anna petitioned the superintendent of the church where her Mother had spent over 20 years teaching Sunday School. Her request was honored, and on May 10, 1908, the first official Mother’s Day celebration took place at Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia and a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The West Virginia event drew a congregation of 407 and Anna Jarvis arranged for white carnations—her Mother’s favorite flower—to adorn the patrons. Two carnations were given to every Mother in attendance. Today, white carnations are used to honor deceased Mothers, while pink or red carnations pay tribute to Mothers who are still alive. Andrew’s Methodist Church exists to this day, and was incorporated into the International Mother’s Day Shrine in 1962.”
Prof. Turley,
Your mother enjoyed a nice day in Chicago, with some sun and some wind, but around 60 degrees. I am sure she had a great Mothers Day like my mother in Skokie had. Let’s treat our Mothers like it is Mother’s Day every day of the year.
I’m back!
Would Leslie remember ‘Nance’s’?
Best chopped BBQ, Brunswick Stew, Coleslaw and Hush Puppies I ever had…
http://endangereddurham.blogspot.com/2008/08/ab-morris-cafe-nances-cafeteria.html
Great architecture in Durham and Chapel Hill!
Maybe that Celtic Saint, “Seamus” could pay us all a visit.
Blessings to the maternal goddesses everywhere. 🙂
Happy Mother’s Day to all those women who create and then rear the species. Their efforts, though only rarely acknowledged, are the real staff of life. BTW JT a Happy Mother’s Day to your mom in the Windy City. I trust she is doing well.
A.Y.,
That was well put. I echo your thoughts.
FYI, nice touch ANON
For the She that must be Obeyed.
Humm, Is that not in all of us, the desire to be kind to our friends, family and those that we hold closest to our hearts.
Happy Mothers Day to all of the Mothers, whether they be biological or not, Step Mothers, People caring for Children that Mothers could not (because not everyone should have a child.) Because it takes a real person to be a that person, a child can call Mom. Not to forget people in my class All of the Real Muthers out there.
FYI:
1908 The first Mother’s Day observance took place during church services in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia.
Amen, Amen for without the creation of thy mother we would not have evolved into whom we’ve become today. Happy Mothers day for you created me and for that there shall be no greater love.
I love you mom.