THIS IS THE DAY TO REMEMBER YOUR MOTHER...

Mothers have always been special. Always. It's hard to imagine what might have happened if Eve hadn't been so tempted to taste the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Maybe God would have stopped with two humans, a man and a woman, to occupy his special garden.

But Eve had a mind of her own -- which, by the way, God gave her -- and mothers down through every generation have been making the most of their lives while giving birth to presidents, plumbers, poets, premiers, pooh-bahs, pontiffs, princes and an occasion good-for-nothing lout.

The British, Yugoslavs and others have long set aside special days to honor mothers. The first person to suggest such an observance in the United States was Julia Ward Howe, who wanted Mother's Day observed on June 2 as a day dedicated to peace.

Mothers and peace.

It sounds right.

Those of us who have lived awhile and have good memories recall when going to church on Mother's Day meant corsages of carnations. Perhaps you also remember that the color of the carnations had special meaning. Corsages with colored carnations meant the wearer's mother was still living. And a corsage of white carnations meant the wearer's mother had died.

This custom of wearing carnations isn't so prevalent anymore, but the idea dates back to 1908 when Anna Jarvis of West Virginia pushed to have Mother's Day celebrated nationwide on the second Sunday in May. On May 10, 1908, the Methodist church in Grafton, W. Va., honored the memory of Jarvis' mother -- with carnations, and in 1912 the Methodists' general conference in Minneapolis received a resolution recognizing Jarvis as the founder of Mother's Day.

The special day for mothers finally obtained national status when President Wilson signed a congressional resolution urging Congress and executive departments of the federal government to observe Mother's Day in 1914. The next year, Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day as a national observance.

When we speak of a mother's love, we are talking about the ability to see beyond the obvious warts and moral lapses. When we speak of someone having a face only a mother could love, we are talking about that special beauty that resides in all of us -- yes, even the boys and men. When we remember Mom's good cooking, we're not just recalling the taste of the food. We're also remembering the way she smells, the way she moved around the kitchen, the way she pushes the hair out of her face, the way she tapped the spoon on the edge of a pot, the way she folds the napkins just so for Sunday dinner.

Most importantly, today we remember our mothers with a measure of the love that we have been so blessed to receive.

Happy Mother's Day to mothers everywhere. From your sons and daughters. From your grandchildren. And from everyone else who is special to you.