[nfb-talk] Happy Mother's Day

[Michael D. Barber]

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all our Federation ladies a very
happy and blessed Mother's Day.  Mother's certainly have a very special
place in our hearts.  My mother has been gone for 18 years, but I still miss
her a lot.  I often find myself wishing I could pick up the phone and call
her just to say hello.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. President, held mothers in very high esteem.
He said, "I regard no man as poor who has a godly mother."

Of mothers, Washington Irving  said, "A mother is the truest friend we have,
when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place
of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us;
when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by
her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and
cause peace to return to our hearts."

And don't forget that Julia Ward Howe initiated "Mother's Day for Peace"
with her Proclamation to Congress in 1908.  Her husband was Samuel Gridley
Howe, that dude who started Perkins School for the Blind and Howe Press.
That's where we get all our braillers today! 

I wish you all a very happy mother's day.  If your mom is still living, do
something very special for her today!

Cordially,
Michael D. Barber, President
National Federation of the Blind of Iowa