Mother’s Day conjures up a lot of mixed emotions. For some mothers, it might be the only time they get flowers, a card, or some quality chocolate. For other women, the day might be a reminder of a miscarriage, that they aren’t a mother, or that their own mother has died.

A decade ago, I wrote a screed in the Atlantic for which I was both applauded and vilified: "The inventor of Mother’s Day disowned the holiday and so should we all." The idea was that even the person who helped put the day on the map had started hating the commercialization of it all. At the end of her life, she wished she hadn’t invented the day. But for mothers, the responsibility is a 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year one. It's a journey for which a woman has dedicated at least the next 18 years of her being.

The cultural importance of mothers has been on an odyssey since I wrote that piece. Fewer babies are being born and fewer women are becoming parents. Women are delaying motherhood for career steadiness, the right partner, and solid financial footing. Women in their 20s need not rush to marry. Still, when they do find the right partner, it's normally a good idea to have babies sooner rather than later. Recovery at a younger age is faster, you can have more children, and you can enjoy their childhood more. Having children is obviously a different experience than having a robust 401k due to not having had children, but then again, few people prioritize money on their deathbed. Few people ultimately regret choosing to have children; more people regret choosing not to have them.

What's also true is that the ideational erasure of women, including mothers, increasingly seems like a zealous goal of the political Left. Transgenderism has exploded in the last ten years, doubling in the last five . The effort to invade all of women’s spaces — from bathrooms to athletic fields — is disheartening for women’s rights, safety, and privacy. Mothers have had to fight twice as hard for themselves and their daughters to retain these rights.

So ask the mother in your life what she wants. It's likely she’ll wish she were honored more than one day a year. But it's worth remembering that few women want to be sold a bill of lies that tells them they’ll be happier in a job than as mothers.

Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She is an opinion columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.