First published in the May 7 print issue of the Burbank Leader.
If you have a mother, or are a mother, Sunday will have you either celebrating or being the celebrated. If that celebration includes a lunch or dinner at a favorite restaurant, you know that even with reservations, the wait for a table on Mother’s Day can take some time.
If you do find yourself making that wait, here are three Mother’s Day related stories you can tell to entertain your party:
You can start your first story by saying: “Hey, do you know who started Mother’s Day?” Then you can regale your party by telling them it was Anna Maria Jarvis, who is so credited. After her mother’s death, Jarvis led a movement for a day to honor all moms.
Every good story needs a “kicker,” and for this one, it’s that, as the years went by, Jarvis became upset with the crass commercialization of Mother’s Day and actually tried to have the observance rescinded.
The irony of this is that when she died in a sanitarium in 1948, her medical bills were paid by representatives of the floral and greeting card industries, the very companies that had commercialized her creation.
For your second story, ask if everyone knows of the Burbank Coordinating Council? If someone doesn’t, tell them that since 1933 the council has collaborated with Burbank faith-based communities, nonprofits, service clubs, schools, city offices and local businesses, to enrich the lives of financially disadvantaged members of our community, with a focus on children and families.
You can continue your story by telling everyone that, while the council is best-known for providing youth camping scholarships and overseeing the December Holiday Basket program, which provides food, decorations and gifts to families in need, this year the organization embraced another holiday as it presented its first Mother’s Day Boutique fundraiser.
Chaired by Sally Hallada, the event, held this past week at UME Credit Union, provided those looking for unique gifts for moms the opportunity to peruse the offerings of numerous local vendors, who, in exchange for inclusion in the event, made finical donations to the organization.
As for your third story, here’s a perfect Mother’s Day tale you can share about a Burbank mom, Michelle Ries, and her daughter, Maddie, a 10-year-old who attends Thomas Jefferson Elementary School.
Michelle and Maddie are business partners who were vendors at the recent Burbank Coordinating Council’s Mother’s Day Boutique. They offered attendees a wide array of bracelets, anklets, necklaces, earrings and sundry trinkets and gifts through their company, MadMom’s Crafts.
“My mom and I have always done a lot of crafts together, which we love to do,” said Maddie. “So, during the pandemic, when everything closed down and I was out of school, we decided to turn our craft nights into a business.”
Now successfully selling their designs at arts and crafts fairs, community events, through Esty and their Facebook page, the mother-and-daughter duo laughed when a question was posed to them as to what happens if mom really gets mad.
“She’s never mad, as long as our sales are good,” said Maddie, who went on to explain that their company’s name is an amalgamation of her nickname and her partner’s maternal status, which, of course, puts her into Sunday’s honor group.
And just what will Maddie and the rest of the Ries family be doing for their wife and mom tomorrow?
“Not too much,” Maddie said, with a laugh. “Last year, we went all out. I helped my dad build her a pergola, which was a really big project, so this year, we’re just going to chill out and relax.”
So there ya have it, three stories to hopefully make the time pass quickly. Oh, and if you are a mom, have a wonderful day, one that will result in some great stories of your own to tell.
For more information about the Burbank Coordinating Council, visit burbankcc.org. To learn more about the offerings of MadMom’s Crafts, check out their Facebook page at facebook.com/madmomscrafts.
DAVID LAURELL may be reached by email at dlaurell@aol.com or (818) 563-1007.
