Mothers are nurturing, loving and care deeply for their families, and they can turn into superheroes on occasions when they need to go above and beyond. Here are three moms who took heroic action when the chips were down.

Irma Randall: She lived in Brooklyn, New York, in a small third floor apartment with her nine children in 1952. Four of her children were home the day their building caught fire. By the time Irma realized what was happening, the stairwell was inaccessible and her family trapped. Thinking quickly, the tossed a blanket to onlookers three stories below, begged them to save her children, and began to throw them out a window. Unfortunately, after saving her last child, her son James, the flames overtook her and she fell back into the burning apartment. Irma didn’t survive.

Florence Rogers: According to the story published in 1960, Floridian mother Florence saved her son Charles Trotter’s twice: once when he was four years old and fell into a pool, nearly drowning until his mother rescued him and gave him artificial respiration, and a second time  at age 16, when Charles became trapped beneath the family car. Florence, a petite woman, lifted the more than 3,000 pound car from her son, allowing him to escape and fracturing her back in the process.

Paula George: In Vancouver Washington in 1988, Paula was driving with her six children in a van, the two youngest (ages 1 and 2) strapped in car seats when the van was rear-ended, causing a chain reaction of accidents. One of the cars next to her van caught fire. Paula immediately told her four oldest children to run for it while the van was struck several more times and she struggled to free the infants from their car seats. As a driver burned to death close to them, she grabbed the car seats and threw them out of the van where bystanders dragged the babies to safety. The older children waited for her while she dodged burning debris and spreading flames to join her family. All of them survived.

Greeting Card Universe celebrates everyday hero moms who face daily challenges and overcome them with love, patience, fortitude and dedication. We offer unique Mother’s Day cards for every mother in your life you want to wish a Happy Mother’s Day. Just order on-line, add a personal message, and we’ll put your card in the mail the next business day. Or order and get free free in-store pick-up, usually in 1 hour, at most Target and Bartell Drug Stores.

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Mother’s Day is May 12 this year. Since 1912, the second day in May has been set aside to honor and celebrate the most cherished person in any child’s life – Mom.

Mother’s Day by the Numbers

• The average mother in the U.S. has 2.1 children
• There are about 83 million mothers in the U.S.
• Mother’s Day is the third most popular holiday after Easter and Christmas
• Americans send 140+ million greeting cards for Mother’s Day
• 80% of Mother’s Day greeting cards are purchased by woman, only 20% by men
• When asked what gift they’d really like to receive, more than half of all mothers responded, “Well behaved kids.”

Greeting Card Universe celebrates mothers everywhere with unique Mother’s Day cards. For Mothers, other female relatives like Aunt and Grandmother, Like a Mother to Me, Expectant Mom – we’ve got you covered! Need cards at the last minute? No problem – order on-line and pick up your cards, usually within 1 hour, at your local participating Target or Bartell Drugs store.

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“The Memorial Day cards are wonderful. We have friends at church who lost a son in Iraq and send them a personalized card every year. Pre-printed text in cards cannot adequately address such a personal situation. The best feature of these cards is that you can personalize them.” – Michael, May 2, 2013

Flying the Coop:
Back to School Leaves Empty Nest Parents Feeling Blue

Empty Nest Syndrome is characterized by an overwhelming feeling of depression and lack of purpose that is felt with each child’s departure from the family home.   Off to college, newly married, or a job opportunity afar all trigger these emotions. However, it’s not really a done deal until the very last child, the baby, has flown the coop.

My youngest is in middle school so I’m not quite there, but with my oldest starting her Junior year in High School, I can see the emptying of the nest coming all too quickly …  and I’m not looking forward to it.  I’ve already made a mental note to be conscious of not letting my sadness at her departure overshadow her excitement for the new adventures that lie ahead.  I know it will be liberating and I’ll enjoy the quiet and reclaimed leisure time.  An adjustment for sure, you just can’t turn off 18 years of mothering.

Friends have shared how emotionally painful it is, sending their kids off to college.  No longer having your child under foot, no one in need of daily care & feeding, not knowing if they’ve made it home safely, remembered to lock their doors, eat their vegetables, and floss their teeth.  I’ll sure miss making the nightly rounds to kiss each little head and knowing they are all tucked in their beds, safe and sound in the nest.

The vast majority of those afflicted are moms, no surprise there.  Stay at home mothers are particularly hard hit, feeling a lack of identity.  Dads are not immune, concerned if they’ve prepared their child well enough to be on their own, and having  regrets about not having spent enough quality time with them when they were young.

I often tell my husband that these days with all of us under one roof are numbered.  When the kids are grown and on their own, he will not be wishing he’d spent more time at the office.  He has yet to heed  my words of wisdom.

Experts at Psychology Today advise to use this extra time to pick up old or new hobbies, go back to school or the workplace, reconnect with your spouse.  In fact, research published in the Journal of Psychological Science shows that marital satisfaction actually increases with new found time to reconnect with your spouse.   It is also time to forge a different kind of relationship with your child, more advisory and mentoring.

Find pride and comfort in the job you’ve done as a parent.  Give them the confidence to spread their wings and fly!  Pat yourself on the back.  Take a load off and RELAX, you’ve earned it!

Here is a good read that I enjoyed from an empty nester mom last year.

Send some encouragement to an empty nester or a fun celebratory card to the college bound making the transition a little bit easier for all.

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“I LOVE these cards! There are SO many that are perfect for what I was looking for, beginning with the white coat ceremony congratulations card that was almost impossible to find! I especially like the ability to personalize each card, the glossy finish option, the exceptional quality of the card stock, as well as the size. I have already ordered for a second time, and am planning a large order of holiday cards.” – Michelle, August 29, 2012

In the United States, Mother’s Day has been celebrated on the second Sunday in May (in 2012, this date falls on May 12th) since it was made an official U.S. holiday in 1914.

“Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs… since the payment is pure love.”
—–Mildred B. Vermont

Everybody’s mother is special, but some moms are a bit more special than others. For your enjoyment, here are 5 Marvelous Mother’s Day Moms for you. Now go outside and play, wipe your feet when you come in the house, do you call those ears clean?, go ask your father, and don’t forget to call your mother.

Oldest Mom: According to the Guiness Book of World Records, that would be Maria del Carmen Bousada Lara, an unmarried Spanish woman who lied about her age to receive IVF treatment in America when she failed to qualify in her native country. She was a week shy of her 67th birthday when her twin sons were born by Cesarean section in Barcelona.

Mom Who Had the Most Children: Hold onto your hats – the record goes to the wife of Russian peasant Feodor Vassilyev in the 18th century. In the period between 1725-1765, she gave birth to 4 sets of quadruplets, 7 sets of triplets, and 16 sets of twins for a total of 69 children! By that standard, Feodor’s second wife was a slacker – she only had 6 sets of twins and 2 sets of triplets.

Youngest Mom: Likely suffering from a rare condition called extreme precocious puberty, Lina Medina of Peru gave birth to a son by Cesarean section at the age of 5 years, 7 months, and 17 days in 1939. The father remains unknown. She still lives in Lima, Peru.

Extremely Brave Mom: In 2006 in Brooklyn, New York, the second-story apartment of Nabila Nazli caught fire. After calling for help from a window, she dropped her month old baby into a makeshift net held by neighbors, followed by his twin brother and her two older children. When her fifth child, a 5-year old daughter, refused to jump, Nazli remained in the blazing apartment with her until fire fighters arrived to rescue them.

Insanely Brave Mom: Inéz Ramírez Pérez performed a successful Cesarean section on herself in 2000 – the only known woman to do so in history. A peasant living in a cabin in rural Mexico, she was alone when her labor started. She had previously given birth to 8 children, of whom 7 survived. Lacking a phone, and fearing her newest child would succumb like the last to fetal death in labor, she decided to operate on herself with a knife. Both mother and child survived.

Greeting Card Universe offers traditional custom Mother’s Day cards for every relationship. Our international artist community has also created many unusual non-traditional cards, such as My Two Moms, From Pet, Military Moms, etc. Our collection can’t be beat with more than 14,000 ways to say “I Love You, Mom.”

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“I am so pleased with the cards that I ordered for my daughter’s college graduation in two weeks. The picture, paper, and lettering Quality are by far superior than cards you see in retail stores at a higher cost. I enjoyed being able to personalize the cards with a special touch. I am so happy that I was able to find this website and am a definitely happy customer and will definitely be a repeat customer.” KIM MARIE DUTTON – Apr 30, 2012