Mother's Day and your wife

I know for a fact my wife doesn't visit here, so I'm safe. I think. Unless SafetySam rats me out.

Back in the day I always considered Mother's Day to be a creation of Hallmark. But that was fine, not that big of a deal. But NOW, when my mother is long dead, the nation suddenly expects me to shower my wife with gifts on Mother's Day? WTH? My father and all other fathers in his generation didn't put up with this crap. It ain't like we have young kids. The youngest is 22. Today I asked the owner of my favorite liquor store (older than me, even) if he had done anything for his wife for Mother's Day, he paused a moment, then smiled and pointed at himself. Maybe you had to be there to get it, but I thought it was a brilliant answer. He suggested I go home, offer myself as a present and, if that didn't work, declare "You ain't my mama!" Because that's the kind of helpful guy he is.

I did the deed because of the age-old and absolutely correct platitude "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." But I'm still wondering how this happened.