happy mother's day

Or Happy Mothers' Day, for those who demand inclusivity. Or Happy Mothers Day, for those who revel in ambiguity.

You picks your style guide; you takes your chances. I have recently started relying on Dreyer's English; so "Mother's Day" it is.

As it was for the founder of Mother's Day in The States. Anna Jarvis was quite emphatic on the point -- that the day was specifically "for each family to honor its own mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world." There is no better put-down than to reduce your opponent to a grammatical archetype.

That was 1912. Today she would probably be singled out for not being woke enough to honor all mothers, let alone women, or people who think they are women, want to be women, or who have had fleeting thoughts of spending the day in a robe and using chap stick.

You may think I am suffering from temporal displacement. That Mother's Day is not until Sunday.

If you think that, you are undoubtedly living north of the Rio Bravo. Today is Mother's Day in Mexico -- and it is very much a day to honor the woman who gave you birth.

Unlike northern Mother's Day, that is celebrated on the second Sunday in May, Mexican Mother's Day is the same day every year -- 10 May. Today.

Like Easter and Passover, they sometimes line up with each other. But not today. My Mom, with a son who lives in Mexico and a grandson who is Mexican, gets the benefit of being celebrated twice.

And the day is taken as seriously here as motherhood is. Barra de Navidad no longer has a full-time florist. But when 10 May rolls around, temporary flower stalls show up all over town.

Department stores become experts in flower arrangement. Underused parking lots and street corners turn into emporia of tchotchkes marketed as suitable mementos of decades of maternal devotion.

The sidewalks are filled with my neighbors carrying home baubles and blossoms for a  day that mingles religiosity with sentimentality. Renderings of Our Lady of Guadalupe decorate a large percentage of today's maternal offerings.

And me? I have to tender my gratitude through the offices of the internet. This is one day I am particularly happy that technology provides services appropriate to the occasion.
To my Mom, ¡Feliz Día de la Madre!

Two days is not enough to honor who you are.