Ashlyn Brady Author: Mother's Day Tribute

Hello Friends,

Sunday is Mother’s Day in Australia, and in many other places around the world. To remember mothers, I have written two stories about difficult times when women were in need of charity. While to celebrate mothers, I have links to four stories about inspiring women who turned their good ideas into reality.

At the Charity Shop

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During this last year, I’ve shared two holidays at the seaside with my mother. It’s been hard to accept my Mum is in her twilight years and her will to keep living is fading. My father is deceased and Mum has had a heart attack and major surgery since he passed.

As an adopted child, I owe my life to my mother. In her own way, she did the best she could by me. Nothing in her life was easy. Recently, I was reminded that in my hometown, there are mothers having difficulties raising their children.

One Saturday morning last April, I was at a charity shop that raises money for a women’s and children refuge. I like pre-loved shopping for vintage kitchenware, comfortable clothing, and items for dance costumes. I also like my money going toward much-needed help in the community.

I was the only customer in the small store when a supervisor and a woman from the refuge walked inside. The woman needed a change of clothes as if all she now owned were the clothes on her back. I mean she needed everything, including underwear. She was shoe-less and looked like she had been living in rough conditions.

The staff at the charity shop rallied to help the woman. They asked her about her clothing size and other information. It was a walking conversation around the shop's clothes racks between the woman and staff. Only the woman didn’t answer the questions. It was a one-sided conservation.

The staff didn’t give up on the silent woman from the refuge. They started making guesses, and placing items of clothing in her arms. She didn’t try on any of the garments for size or fit. She didn’t express an opinion on colors or styles like dresses or skirts etc. At the end of charity shop visit, the woman paid no money for her garments. They were gifts from kind strangers who’d donated the items to the shop. The woman allowed herself to be meekly guided back to the refuge which was located in a building behind the shop.

I kept my eyes averted the whole time which lasted about ten minutes. I imagined the woman wouldn’t want a stranger staring at her during this low point in her life. She was homeless, clothes-less, bare-footed and had lost her voice to speak. I sensed some embarrassment in the woman. I wondered how many children she had with her in the refuge home.

Deep down, I also sensed there was strength in this woman. She had made a change in her life. She’d left a troubled situation of some kind. As a mother, she was struggling on, and surviving in her own way. Against all odds, a lot of mothers keep going through life’s grinder for the sake of their children and families.

“A Gift For Mother” – Going Back in History

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An Australian woman, Janet Heyden is credited as starting a campaign in 1924 to collect gifts for lonely aged mothers. In 1954, Janet was interviewed by a Sydney newspaper about the tradition of giving gifts on Mother’s Day.

Janet was described by the newspaper reporter as a little old lady. She could be anything from 70 to 75. In fact she is 86 and very proud that few people realize it.

Janet told the staff reporter, she was the one who started the idea of gifts for mothers (in Australia), stabbing her chest with a forefinger. Thirty years earlier, she was on the committee of the Home for Destitute Women and Children in the Sydney area. She spoke of the lonely mothers she visited who were living at a State run home. She thought something needed to be done to brighten their lives. She organized gifts for them on Mother’s Day.

"Even a little remembrance like hairpins… a hankie, or a cake of soap meant a lot to people like that. Then I thought, why stop at them? So I appealed to the public through the newspapers to remember the mothers of Sydney."

A mayor used to drive Janet around to deliver the gift parcels to the old mothers in the district. For seven years in a row the newspaper appeal made sure that hundreds of mothers who would otherwise have been forgotten received a Mother's Day gift.

Thanks Janet Heyden for caring about the old mothers and starting a tradition.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The Carousel is a website where I like to read articles on lifestyle, yoga (I dream of doing it), travel ideas (I’d like to go there) and healthy cooking (I’m trying gluten-free food, and like a rabbit, I’m munching lots of green leaf salads.).

When I was last browsing the website, I came across four stories about mothers who turned their passionate ideas into businesses and careers. I’m talking about mums embracing a car-sharing network, a Mumpreneur with boxes of baby goodies, Eco-Mum and biodegradable bamboo nappies (wow!) and a Snake Boss Mum, yikes!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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Earlier in the day, I went to school for the Mother’s Day breakfast. Afterwards, I enjoyed going to my child’s art class but I probably wouldn’t get a pass for drawing portraits. I've already received a bouquet of chrysanthemums and pink roses from my oldest child which brought a tear to my eyes. The flowers are sitting on my computer desk and I look at the roses and have sentimental thoughts of her. She lives in the city, and I miss her terribly.

On Mother's Day, I’ve been promised a home-made cake so I’m looking forward to Sunday’s morning tea.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the ladies who care for children and families.

Thanks for reading, and have a good weekend.

♥ Ashlyn

My other Mother's Day blogs

2016

I’ve searched the internet looking for touching tributes to mothers. The sickly sweet, all-sacrificing Mum who is a fountain of ever-renewing love is not a woman I can relate to. I’ve had my bad days of being a mother...