5/09/2005

Mother's Day thoughts

As you all know, yesterday was Mother's Day. Being a blog almost entirely devoted to mothers, I guess I should have posted something cool, or had a neat picture, or had some profound thoughts yesterday. Sorry. I was too busy sleeping in. Yes, DH came through and gave me a great Mother's Day, starting with a lovely morning spent in total silence as Dh took the small child somewhere. I don't even know where they went. And I really don't care. All I care about is that I got to sleep well past nine, and then eat my breakfast and read the Sunday comics BY MYSELF for the first time in a long time. It was fabulous. Anyway, so I didn't have a chance to say Happy Mother's Day to all the great moms out there who read this blog and make us feel cool every time we check out our site meter and realize that people are STILL reading this blog. I hope everybody had a fantastic day. And did everybody get a flower, or a potted plant at church? We got something a little different in our ward. The Young Women had made roses molded out of white chocolate for all the mothers, and the deacons passed them out. They were beautiful, perfect, a sight to behold. A special treat, just for the mothers. Mothers, that is, whose children don't like chocolate. Jacob took one look at that chocolate treat, looking suspiciously like a lollipop (the roses were stuck on a stick and tied with a pretty ribbon) and shouted, "Hey, I want that!" and sure enough, devoured half of that treat when I got it opened. (sigh) A mother can't even enjoy her own Mother's Day treat without sharing. The talks were also pretty standard Mother's Day talks, saying most of the expected tributes to mothers, i.e., woman was the culmination of the creation, mothers are essential to the good development of their offspring and the most powerful influence in a child's life, etc, etc. Then one speaker made a ridiculous reference to "his favorite movie as a child, Johnny Lingo." You all know the story. The loser island girl "Mahana" (Her father calls her "Mahana You Ugly!) is purchased by the handsome, charming, charismatic, popular Johnny Lingo for the ridiculously high price of 8 cows. We meet the poor, ugly woman later in the film, and she has been transformed into a beautiful, happy, confident woman, because Johnny Lingo has shown her her true worth. Fun story for a 12 year old ugly duckling, flat chested and gangly, with big, bright pink 80s style glasses and braces on her teeth (not that I would know anything about that. I was a SMOKIN' looking 12 year old!). But for a Mother's Day talk? Then the speaker said, "A mother's worth is only revealed when a man shows it to her," or something like that. I looked at DH in astonishment and said, "Did he just say what I think he said?" Sadly, DH agreed he had. I'd like to give the speaker the benefit of the doubt, that really, he was trying to show that we are all 8 cow women. But unfortunately, he subtly implied that we all wouldn't KNOW that we were 8 cow women until our Johnny Lingos showed up with the animals, that it takes a man to tell us how great we are. I sincerely hope that the women in the audience did not buy that, that no woman buys that. Our worth as mothers and women should be inherently obvious, no matter what a man is willing to pay for us. Anyway, bovine aside, I want to wish a big fat belated Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there who are down in the trenches, fighting to keep their families strong, their children safe, and their sanity all at the same time. It's a tough job, clearly not for the weak-minded or the faint of heart. 8 cows? Heck, I think we all deserve a whole dang pasture of animals! And yummy treats that we wouldn't have to share....

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ugh, I can't stand the Johnny Lingo movie - what a sexist piece of tripe...

5/09/2005 12:04:00 PM  
Blogger Allison said...

I love Johnny Lingo - it's hilarious! But I can't believe the speaker could extract that message from the movie. I thought the whole point of the movie was that Mohana was ALWAYS of worth, and always had been a beautiful person, and that her change happened when she escaped her abusive environment and was able to come into her own. I never saw Johnny as being a controlling figure in her life, or making her over in any way.

5/09/2005 12:54:00 PM  
Blogger annegb said...

I never thought that hard about Johnny Lingo. I guess it is sexist. I just liked the part where she became beautiful because he thought she was worth it.

I think sleep is the best gift anybody can give a young mom. Even an old mom. It's my favorite thing.

5/09/2005 12:55:00 PM  
Blogger This is Carrie said...

Anyone else think it's funny that the thing that most moms (at least moms with young children) want for Mother's Day is a little break from being a mom?

Maybe it's just what we want all the time and Mother's Day is ironically the only day we can get it?

5/09/2005 01:10:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My son was the youth speaker in our ward. Poor kid, second year in a row he's been asking to speak on Mother's Day. (Last year we were in a different ward.) I told him, "Someone must think you have a really great Mom. Little do they know!"

I think no matter what they hand out on Mother's Day the Bishop always gets flack for it. He just can't win.

5/09/2005 03:48:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

The speakers in our ward yesterday all talked about their own mothers. It was nice but LONG! I couldn't really listen to the last speaker because I kept looking at the clock thinking, "Is this meeting ever going to be over?"

I confided this afterward to a friend whose children are grown. She replied, "Oh, I could listen to Brother X forEVER!" To which I replied, "You obviously did not have a little kid on your lap." Which she conceded.

Our gift was a container of orange blossom honey, produced by my friend's husband, a beekeeper who is starting his own business this year. I think it was a great gift, and I'm thrilled that they let him attach a tag with his phone number. Way to support the local business, Bishop! It was also just nice to get something different, rather than the usual single carnation.

My kindergartner gave me a necklace of bright colored plastic beads strung on a plastic string. He made it at school. I wore it this morning while we got ready and went to the bus stop. I was going to take it off before I came to work. I forgot. Isn't that typical? Great, though!

5/09/2005 04:40:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My ward's gift? All women in primary and YW got to come to SS and RS (the men handled primary). Then we ended RS 15 minutes early and had cheesecake while chatting. It was great.

The talks were fine. The main speaker talked about all mothers should be honored not forgetting about your mother when she's old and in a nursing home. Anyway, all the talks were about mothers, but no silly poems, no tributes to the perfection of motherhood, etc.

5/09/2005 05:09:00 PM  
Blogger Kaimi said...

"I don't even know where they went. And I really don't care."

I like the honesty of that statement.

Happy Mother's Day!

5/09/2005 05:48:00 PM  
Blogger annegb said...

Wow, JKS, I love how your ward thinks. I'm going to suggest that for next year. That's way more meaningful than something I have to plant. That is just a terrific idea.

5/09/2005 06:19:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last year I was in the Monterey Ward in California. The yearly tradition there is to give all the women a potted flower or something of that sort, then during Relief Society hour, they put on a nice big luncheon just for the women. I was pregnant last year and having lunch DURING church was the best thing ever!!! Sigh, we miss that ward - not only was it full of the nicest folks, but there waws always great food too!

5/09/2005 08:42:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Food during church is ALWAYS a good idea. I think I'll suggest that for next year :)

5/10/2005 03:04:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey! I want to know more about how you women found each other...and would love to interview on the radio on UTaham820.com....

Will one of you email me at rcressman@utaham820.com?

P.S. I love your sense of humour!

11/21/2005 01:54:00 PM  

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