Mother's Day

Who invented Mother's Day?

In the past, Mothers' Day was never celebrated in my family. Nor was Fathers' Day. The reason is that all of us don't subscribe to the commercialism of such occasions. What's the point of being extremely nice to your Mum or Dad only on this so-called 'special' day of the year but be yelling at them at the top of your voice (or do some other unfilial things that hurt them) on the rest of the 364 days?

So in my family, such days are never that special as some people make them out to be... I always try not to do things to hurt my parents, no matter whether it's Mothers' or Fathers' Day...

It was only after I got married that I started 'celebrating' Mothers' and Fathers' Day, with my parents-in-law. It was in the culture of my Hubby's family, or rather his sister, to celebrate such occasions.

I still remember the first Mothers' Day we spent (was it last year or the year before? I can't remember now). We went out for lunch at some restaurant. And my sister-in-law gave her mum a small gift. There was no gesture on my hubby's part. I remember feeling a bit awkward.

Well, Hubby also doesn't subscribe to it. And I being the daughter-in-law, will never assume the same place as a daughter. So I did not do anything about it either. Anyway, it is just not my style, it's just too contrived for me.

But I did something for my own mother though. I sent her a bouquet of flowers on Mothers' Day last year. It was the first time I did anything as a Mothers' Day gesture. I figured it was because I had gotten married and moved out, we weren't that close (in proximity) now so I wanted to do something to hold on to that bond. She was very touched by that gesture...

And in the same year, I gave my Dad a handmade Fathers' Day card on which I pasted a photo of us taken when I was a baby. My mum said he was so moved by it. Heehee...

Anyway, a year has come and gone. It's Mothers' Day again and it falls on a Sunday. Well, the routine Hubby and I have is that we visit each other's parents on alternate Sundays. Shortly after the wedding, we thought alternating the visits was less of a hassle for us. The first few months when we tried visiting both sets of parents on the same day, it was so tiring for us. And we felt like we had no time for each other. Saturdays were spent doing housework. So we had settled into this alternate-week routine.

And so... this Mothers' Day, it so happened that we were supposed to visit my parents. And because of that, we couldn't celebrate Mothers' Day with his. I felt bad for 'depriving' his mum of time with her son. But apparently, Hubby thought nothing of it. Nevertheless, I insisted that we should just make the exception this Sunday and just visit both sets of parents. Which we did.

Well, at least I've done my part as a daughter-in-law. Despite not getting Hubby's mum a present (which I would feel awkward doing as it's just not my style), at least I've made him 'celebrate' Mothers' Day with her.

I'm so proud of myself... I'm a good girl, ain't I?