Why not ‘Other Mother’s Day ?’

It seems to me that we could use another holiday, a special day each year set aside to honor women who have stepped up to “mother” a child, for either a short time or a long time, that isn’t theirs.

Most of us can probably think of someone who falls into this category, a friend, a teacher, a grandmother, a neighbor, a virtual stranger. Yes, there would be plenty of honorees out there, for sure. Greeting card companies could make a mint, and many gifts would be purchased. It would be good for the economy, and special women, all over the country or even the world, as far as that goes, could get extra recognition they deserve. Other Mother’s Day, it would be called, of course.

It seems like such a naturally good idea that I Googled it to see if possibly the holiday had already been declared and I somehow missed it. I couldn’t readily find anything, so I am assuming not. OK, then. I am presenting this as a proposal to whomeverit is out there that decides on holidays in the fi rst place.

I know there are ways to incorporate “other mothers” into the regular Mother’s Day holiday, with those “you are like a mother to me” greeting cards and all that, but I don’t see why they couldn’t have their own day.

Contemplation of this topic was recently spurred on by the unusual email I received a few days ago. I did not recognize the sender. It was from an email address I had never seen before. The subject line gave no clue and I thought of deleting it unread but, out of curiosity, I clicked it open.

“Hello, Zack’s Mother,” it started.

I scanned quickly, withgreat curiosity, and phrases like, “a lovely young man,” “his work is just wonderful,” and “you can be proud of him,” jumped out at me along with two photos of my smiling boy, sitting in sock feet, on a newly-tiled kitchen fl oor.

“Doreen” went on to tell me a little about her family and how a natural disaster had caused them to need extensive repairs on their home. Zack had helped provide some of those and,during that time, they had “adopted” him.

I knew in an instant this stranger was a mother herself who understood how much an email such as this would mean to a parent whose son is thousands of miles from home.

It made my day.

I am just saying people like her deserve their own holiday.

Annette Rowe is a freelance writer from rural Gentry and a speech-language pathologist at Siloam Springs High School. She may be reached by email at [email protected].