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“Those flowers!” Anna pointed to a clump of beautiful flowers by the side of the road. “Aren’t they pretty?”

“They’re very pretty.” Donna agreed. “C’mon, we don’t want to miss the parade!” She urged as everyone hurried down the rusty road to see the exciting circus parade that rarely passed through the small town that Anna and her friends lived.

“I’m going to pick a bouquet for Mother. She loves flowers so much,” Anna said. Surprised, her friends saw her stop to pick the flowers.

For a moment Anna looked up at her friends. Then she smiled and glanced down at the flowers she was holding in her hand.

“You go on and see the parade,” she said softly. “I would rather take these flowers to my mother.”

Anna Marie Jarvis was a thoughtful girl who loved her mother very much. She was so devoted to her mother that when she grew up to be a lady, she wanted to find a way to pay tribute to her.

During her mother’s death anniversaries she donated hundreds of white carnations– her mother’s favorite flower– to be given to all mothers and children in her church. She organized a committee and launched a massive letter-writing campaign to hundreds of church and business leaders, newspaper editors, and politicians, asking them to join her in the campaign to make Mother’s Day into a national holiday.

Overjoyed by their response, Anna formed the Mother’s Day International Association and from 1912 on, devoted all her time and energy to promoting the holiday.

Anna, the girl who chose to bring home flowers for Mom instead of joining her friends to see the circus parade, was the lady who first brought about the first Mother’s Day.

Every second Sunday of May, we recognize and celebrate Mother’s Day as a public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of the world.