My Mothers Day Memory
Mothers Day to me usually evokes thoughts of white chrysanthemum flowers, roast lunch and lots and lots of ladies (generations of them in fact). With Mothers Day soon approaching and my own love of the day (my two boys and hubby usually make me a lovely breakfast in bed of pancakes and cups of tea), I wondered about different peoples thoughts or experiences of the day. I know some people feel that every day should be special and that now it is yet another ‘marketing fuelled day’ for selling flowers and cards and others really making a big deal of it. My own memories of Mothers Day may be a little more unusual than others, yes there were flowers, lunch and lots of ladies, but you see I grew up in a pub (actually my parents owned and ran 3 of them). So Mothers Day in our house was another day of work (and probably a little extra stress) for the family and my mum.
We always held a Mothers Day luncheon at the hotel, which meant my morning involved trimming a sea of white chrysanthemums’ and greenery into small corsages (showing my age, aren’t I!). I trimmed them with scissors and placed a flower with some greenery onto alfoil, then pushed a dressmaker’s pin in them. They were then transferred to a large tray to be at the doorway or entrance to the hotel dining room. Each mother would then be given one on arrival as they were escorted to their table. The ritual was always welcomed and whenever we ran out of the flowers, it would be up to me to make some more or help one of my sisters in sourcing others, because no mum should ever be disappointed on their day of days! I was always surprised at how many of the women pinned the corsage to their Sunday best dress, but I now realise it truly was their badge of honour. They were proud to be a mum and even though in this crowd it was pretty obvious, they wanted everyone to know. They had come to share time and food with their loved ones, they had come for some time off from their usual rituals of washing, cleaning and cooking.
I remember the lunch was usually made extra special by the chef or cook in the kitchen, even what may be seen as a standard Sunday roast would be lovingly prepared and displayed for each guest in the dining room. All the wait staff said “Happy Mothers Day” to all the women on arrival and joked about Happy Grandmothers Day to older patrons too. As I said, it was always a busy day and not one where we could sit down and rest. But it was always wonderful to see the mums not having to worry about lunch, what everyone wanted to eat and most importantly cooking it themselves (or washing up!)
So what of my own beautiful mother on this day? What did she get as thanks for being a hard working mum of 5 children. Well, she usually at least got a chrysanthemum, that’s for sure. Actually, she always got the most beautiful bunch of flowers from dad. He would always give them to her with great fanfare and a big smooch. He realised as much as anyone, how much she deserved some ‘special’ time and appreciation’. This usually occurred after lunch had finished and everything had been cleared. We would all sit down to a lovely family dinner together and wish mum a “Happy Mothers Day”. I might add here that it was usually Dads turn to ‘cook’, hence a lovely take-away from the local Chinese restaurant was usually on our table. Not that we complained as it meant everyone had a little break on this special day and we wanted mum to enjoy her favourite Lemon Chicken. Whenever I see white chrysanthemums I always think of those days of pinning them to alfoil fondly, I always think of my mum and how she is the role model for me as I am now mum to 2 gorgeous boys. So I would like to wish my mum a public Happy Mothers Day, as well to all the mums we come across in our lives. Some of us are mums, some women become like mums to us and some of us have wonderful friends that love our children like a mum, I am lucky to have them all in my life. On Mothers Day I wont have a chrysanthemum badge of honour to wear, but I am honoured to be a mum.
What is your Mothers Day memory or what do you have planned for this Mothers Day? We would love to know.
Vicki
