Celebrating Mothers Day (Plus a Little History Lesson)
Mother’s Day is a holiday that celebrates the role that Mother’s play in our lives and in making the world a better place. Here’s a little history I found on how it all started (and its Philadelphia connection).
The holiday, while probably an ancient Greek celebration, became an official holiday in the 20th century largely because of the work of Anna Jarvis, who wished to honor her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis. The idea was promoted and financed by John Wanamaker, and a ceremony was held on the official first Mother’s Day in Grafton, West Virginia, and simultaneously attended by thousands at Wanamaker’s, the first department store in Philadelphia and one of the first in the country. Interestingly, once Mother’s Day was adopted as an official holiday, Anna Jarvis deplored the commercialization of the day and tried, unsuccessfully, to get it off the official calendar.
With or without a special holiday, Moms and daughters share a special bond. Being together in and of itself is special, and sharing time, even in trivial activities (like shopping, going to the gym…or going to the doctor) is special.
We marvel at what makes you similar…and what makes you different. It’s interesting how temperaments, voices, and laughter are often alike between mothers and daughters. But what we often find in our practice is how often your share looks (you share half your genes so it stands to reason). These genes produce striking lookalikes separated, as they were, by a time machine created by the generations. They also determine, to some degree, how aging and the elements may affect you over time. Look at the picture of my mother as a girl in Poland which was just sent to me from one of her friends in South Africa. Then look at this picture of my niece. The family resemblance is uncanny.
As an eye and facial plastic surgeon, I make a living looking not at temperaments, but at how you look. I’m especially fascinated with how mothers look now and how their daughters resemble them at a younger age. Using high tech imaging and animations, I can show you all of the areas that change. It happens everywhere on the face, the lower eyelids, upper eyelids, the nose (even at the tip). The face shrinks. The midface in particular starts to cave in. The eyes sink down, and the brows seem to elevate. The neckline becomes blurred, and the cheek starts to lose volume.
Over the next two months, our goal is to gather pictures of mothers and daughters (or extended family) to gain a better understanding of the relationship between faces over a generation to see how we age. So far, we’ve done it and met with great success. The Mother’s ask, “what can I do to reverse the melting process?” While the daughter’s so far ask, “What can I do to prevent this?” While there are solutions, it’s a great help to me to be able to define the changes in order to be able to correct them.
Please come in and take advantage of our new high tech imaging. We welcome Mother-Daughter pairs or any other female relative! We are also offering a fantastic special to anyone that comes in and participates. See it on our Specials page.
