Though Mother's Day today is one of America's most successful commercial holidays of the year, it's origin and how it became significant across America has a long history. Many women have done and contributed much to the history of America. Some would argue that the observance of honoring mothers had its origin as far back as the Egyptians, but many historians credit a social activist by the name of Julia Ward Howe and a school teacher by the name of Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis for our modern-day holiday.

It was Julia that first used the words "Mother's Day" in her "Mother's Day for Peace" movement back in 1872. If Julia were alive today, she might be categorized as a modern day peace activist in that she promoted peace after having observed the carnage about the Civil War and Franco-Prussian war. Her campaign was to inspire women the world over to rise up against war.

Her "Mother's Day for Peace" was first observed in London at the International Women's Peace Congress in 1872. All the while, a second woman Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis in her efforts to heal the nation after the Civil War attempted to improve sanitation and child care that she learned from her brother who was a doctor, for what she called the Mother's Friendship Day.

Ann Reeves Jarvis a school teacher from Philadelphia is given credit for saving thousands of American lives in America after the Civil War through her teaching women in her Mother's Friendship Clubs, the basics of nursing, child care and sanitation. Ann's daughter, Anna Jarvis though is the one that succeeded in introducing Mother's Day in the way we celebrate today.

Anna Jarvis wanted to honor her mother after her mother's death in 1905 and decided that all mothers should be honored  with a special day designated as Mothers Day. She stated that effort with a letter writing campaign, urging businesses and congress to declare a national day of honor for Mothers. Her efforts she hoped would increase respect for parents and strenghten family bonds.

In 1908 in Grafton, West VA, a church service would honor Anna's mother and that church would ultimately became known as the International Mother's Day Shrine. Anna's efforts would continue and in 1912, the Mother's Day International Association came into being.

Anna continued to lobby the US Congress and convinced them of the need to honor all mothers which lead to a Congressional Resolution honoring mothers in 1913.

In 1914 on May 8th, by presidential proclamation, Woodrow Wilson officially set aside a national day, the second Sunday in May for the observation of Mother's Day to honor all mothers. As Mother's Day became very popular commercially, Anna became infuriated that the real sentiment of the day was being sacrificed by greed and profit. She even did a door to door campaign as well as a letter writing campaign to have the holiday, Mother's Day rescinded, feeling that it was not being observed the way she had intended.  But despite her efforts that Mother's Day should not be about gifts and flowers but genuinely expressed appreciation of motherhood in writingby ones children, Mother's Day remains commercially profitable today in America and has spread throughout the world.

In the true sentiment of what this day means, let us each in our own way express to our Moms how much they mean to us and our appreciation of their sacrifices they made to rear us, protect us and love us. Let us then set aside this day in reverence of our appreciation to them.

Happy Mothers Day!