How do we love thee, Mom? Let us count the ways:

• More telephone calls are made on Mother’s Day than on any other Sunday of the year. By some estimates, 70 million more calls are made on Mother’s Day than on an average Sunday.
• Mother’s Day is the third most popular card-sending holiday, behind only Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
• Consumers spent nearly $16 billion — a record average of $139.14 each — on Mother’s Day gifts, cards, meals and other merchandise this year.

But let’s face it: Mom is worth every penny … and possibly even more. If mothers were given a salary for their work, Salary.com estimates they would earn nearly $140,000 per year. That’s based on a complicated formula involving jobs performed, hours worked and median salary of each job. “Even mothers who work full-time jobs outside the home put in $85,939 worth of work as mothers,” according to the survey.

So as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Mother’s Day, let’s hear it for Mom! And kids, give her a break every now and then, will you?