Tag Archives: Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day: A Short History by @Donna_Fasano

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Mother’s Day is a celebration that commonly involves giving moms cards, flowers, and other gifts. But have you ever wondered how and when the holiday began? Well, here’s a short history. Mother's Day

Commemorating motherhood goes back to ancient Greek and Roman times when people gathered in festivals in honor of mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele. The first Christian celebrations to praise moms was called Mothering Sunday in the UK and other parts of Europe. Early Mothering Sundays had religious connotations. Held on the fourth Sunday of Lent, people would return to their “mother church”—the main church in their area—to celebrate a special service.

An Official Mother’s Day

Over time, Mothering Sunday became more secular and was established as a day when children would give small gifts of appreciation to their moms. Even this practice began to fade in Europe until the holiday caught fire in America in the early 1900s. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I have put my 2-book “duo” sweet romance boxed set on sale for just 99¢. You can save $6 off the regular price. Click the image of the book cover below to go to the Kindle Store.

No one on this earth is more resilient than a single mom. She has to be. Her children are vulnerable, and they’re depending on her to create a nurturing, loving environment. But single moms deserve caring and affection, too. Come along as fate forces… er, ah… helps Julia and Lainey find the men of their dreams. (Goodness knows, these single moms are both too busy to find love on their own!)

Falling For a Single Mom

7 Inspiring Quotes About Speaking Up for What is Right

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7 Inspiring Quotes on Standing Up for What is RightI have always been awe-struck by those who are smart enough to speak out using indelible words that have the ability to change the hearts and the behaviors of others. Here are seven inspiring quotes about speaking up for what is right. Have you found inspiring quotes that motivate you to live a better life?

“Strong people stand up for themselves; stronger people stand up for others.” ~Suzy Kassem

“Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.” ~Thurgood Marshall

“The only people who are angry at you for speaking the truth are those who are living a lie. Keep speaking the truth.” ~Unknown

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.”  ~Elie Wiesel

“As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.” ~Nelson Mandela

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” ~Dr Martin Luther King Jr

“In a world that demands you obey the wrong rules, being rebellious is right.” ~Jenna Galbut

Feel free to add your favorite inspiring quotes in the comment section.

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To celebrate Mother’s Day, I am offering readers my 2-book duet set, FALLING FOR A SINGLE MOM, on sale for just 99¢. Two books for under a buck? You can’t beat this deal. Click on the cover to be taken to the Kindle Store.

7 Inspiring Quotes

Wishing you and yours health and happiness.

Grandmother on Mother’s Day

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While browsing through my old blog posts I came across the following one that brought tears to my eyes. It was published on my own blog in May 2008:

Today I celebrated Mother’s Day as a daughter, mother and grandmother. My son-in-lay invited four generations of women to lunch: my mother and me, my daughter and her two little daughters, 4 and 2, and my son’s daughter, 3.

Lunch was lovely. We ignored the spilled glass of orange juice, the I-don’t-like-it whining and the crumbles forming a hidden mess under the table.

It took fifteen minutes to sit the ladies for the picture of the century. Moving my mother and her walker to a strategic place, and then having her hold on the rail of the restaurant’s entrance stairs wasn’t too difficult, but gathering three laughing, squealing and squirming little girls and having them stand still for two seconds was an enormous challenge. But the effort was worth the pain. The children are growing too fast and we don’t know how long we will be blessed with my mother’s presence.

Sometimes Mother’s Day is a difficult time. I know it is extremely difficult for my cousin who lost her mother a week ago. For her and her family, Mother’s Day consisted in a trip to the cemetery to deposit flowers on a new grave.

 Enjoy your mothers and enjoy your day as a mother.

My mother left us two years later.

To honor her I wrote a contemporary romance called MOTHER’S DAY BABIES, a novel full of emotion and humor. I dedicated the book to “the Mother we celebrate on Mother’s Day and those we remember with love.”

I had two great models for my middle-aged heroine, my mother and mother-in-law. Both spoke their minds and distributed good advice whether you were ready to listen or not.

My mother told us to always ‘look your best’. She professed that being nicely dressed, combed and jeweled helped her forget she was a very sick person and she practiced what she preached. The assisted living residents complimented her and tried to follow her example. The staff admired her positive attitude.

Most of my books include a grandmother among the characters. Depending on the setting of my stories, the children call her grandma, momom, abuelita, nonna, yaya, or baboushka, but the grandmothers in my various novels have a lot in common.

Like my mother and my mother-in-law, they adore their grandchildren, cook delicious meals, and often meddle in their children’s life —for the children’s good, of course. They are strong women who have encountered their shares of problems and learned life’s lessons from personal experience. They are also generous mothers who would go out of their ways for their families.

MOTHER’S DAY BABIES: http://tinyurl.com/cz3v5a8

This book is dedicated to the mothers we celebrate and those we remember with love.

MOTHER’S DAY BABIES

Widowed for seven years, Barbara Ramsay lives and breathes for her five grownup daughters and their babies. She’s also used to chatting over the phone with her good friend, Lou, and soothing his stress. But why has he invited her to come to Paris with his TV Network crew?

Powerful News Director, Lou Roland is certainly not marriage material, yet he has suddenly decided he wants Barbara in his arms. Not an easy task when his pretty confidante from Kentucky proves so difficult to date–unless he follows her rules. Can the over-fifty confirmed bachelor and the widow loyal to her husband’s memory find true love and share a future?