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A mother is the personification of unconditional love. On Mother's Day, we celebrate our moms and how remarkable and meaningful they are in our lives. Most families have their own unique tradition to celebrate this special day. Some shower mom with flowers and cards, others call and some go all out with dinner or a spa day. No matter how you choose to honor your mom, there is more to Mother's Day than just the well wishes, cards and family celebrations.

Mother's Day history is rooted in war. After the Civil War, the country remained divided among state lines and allegiances between the fallen Confederacy and the prevailing Union. Mother's Day was started as a way to find peace. The day was called "Mother's Friendship Day" and helped foster relationships between mothers of union soldiers and mothers of confederate soldiers.

While Anna Reeves Jarvis thought up this unique day of peace, it was her daughter who pursued Mother's Day as a national holiday. For the younger Jarvis, Mother's Day was no longer about north and south but the day was now an opportunity to honor women for their roles and work and in a nod to modern day feminism, the younger Jarvis also wanted a holiday that didn't give another congratulatory pat on the back to patriarchy.

As we all know, Jarvis succeeded in securing a national day of honor for moms across the country. She envisioned the day to be a day for family and church but what happened next was a bit unexpected.