Daybreak's moms love to celebrate Mother's Day

As Mother's Day approaches I've been wondering how older mothers those with grown children feel about the yearly celebration.

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I decided to interview women who've been mothers for decades, some for more than half a century, about their experiences and thoughts on motherhood.

Who better to ask than my own mom and the moms of all my Daybreak colleagues!

Daybreak Montreal13:43A Mother's Day special

Daybreak's Shari Okeke talks to a very special group of moms.

Shari Okeke's mom, Kathy

Q:What does Mother's Day mean to you?

A:It's a time to remember when we first became a mother and all the good times we had raising our kids, minus the times that weren't so great!

Q:Is there a Mother's Day memory that stands out in your mind?

A:The first Mother's Day, my daughter was two months old, I went to pick her up in the morning from her crib and there beside her was my first Mother's Day card. Obviously her dad had placed it there for me to find in the morning and that memory has always stayed with me.

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Q:What do you love most about being a mother?

A:There's nothing greater than seeing your kids grow and up and become independent and able to stand on their own two feet and bring their children into the world and be terrific parents.

Q:What's the toughest part about being a mother?

A:Not having my (late) husband here to share pride in our children.

Q:What do you hope to do this Mother's Day?

A:Just see my kids at some point either before or after, not necessarily on the exact day.

Andie Bennett's mom, Kathy

Q:What does Mother's Day mean to you?

A:It's a day when I look forward to hearing from my daughters and hearing if I've been any kind of a special mom to them

Q:Do you have a favourite Mother's Day memory?

A:I think it was just last year, we all went and had pedicures together so that was kind of a neat one.

Q:What do you love about being Andie's mom?

A:I have another daughter, Jen, and they're both very special to me. I don't want to single out anyone but since you know Andie I love her sense of humour and her work ethic and her generosity and just her spirit. I love her spirit.

Q:What's the toughest part about being a mother?

A:The toughest part about being mom is always trying to be there for them....always being strong for your children.

Q. What would you like at Mother's Day this year?

A:I won't be around this year...but if they could be with me I would just like them to be here and play cards and chit-chat and have a glass of wine togetherthe small pleasures.

Kristy Snell's mom, Marily

Q:What does Mother's Day mean to you?

A:I think of my mother of course and how much she meant to me and what a nice day it was to, a special day to make a fuss over her other than every day. It was just special to know all the things that she'd done for me and to celebrate her.

Q. Do you have as a mother yourself a favourite Mother's Day memory?

A:They were all quite special but I really love it when they drew pictures and they brought pictures home from school or theydid little drawings at home or they would try to come up with some kind of a breakfast...but I still have all their little cards they gave me from when they were small. Ikept them all and they were always very special.

Q:What do you love about being Kristy's mom?

A:Kristy is very special. She was special from the moment I first laid eyes on her she just was a special gal. She's a go-getter, she cares about people, she loves her kids, she's a great mom she's always been so supportive of me when i was a working mom and she was, you know, sometimes I'm sure she wished her mom could be there for certain things and she wasn't but she was always understanding. Icould always count on her. She's just that kind of gal.

Q:What's the toughest part about being a mother?

A:I guess knowing you're doing the right thing. You always wonder, are you doing the right thing for your children?

Q:What would you like for Mother's Day this year?

A:To be with some of the kids that can be here (in Moose Jaw) just talking about old times and reliving some of the things we've done and laughing like crazy like we tend to do.

Jennifer Allen's mom, Rosetta

Q:What does Mother's Day mean to you?

A:Mother's Day to me means everything. Everything. I wonder without my childrenI wonder what life I would have so to me theymean everything.

Q:Do you havea favourite Mother's Day memory?

A:Every (Mother's Day) is special. I keep all their cards. I just read them over and over.

Q:What do you love about being Jennifer's mom?

A:The closeness. We're very close friends, we keep in touch. If she doesn't call, the whole day I'm lost. Sometimes she'll call at the end of day and I'm wondering, 'What happened all day? I haven't heard from you.' She will say 'I'm busy you know'but she will call before the day's out. She will call, which is very important.

Q:What's the toughest part about being a mother?

A:Not a lot of hard parts because we're very close.

Q. What would you like at Mother's Day this year?

A:Good health. I think that's all we really need right now. We have a place that we could call home, we have enough to eat, we have good health. I think that's a lot so you really don't need much more than that.

Frank Cavallaro's mom, Rosa

Q:What does Mother's Day mean to you?

A:It's a tradition and we celebrate every year. We go out with all my children and my grandchildren. But 60 years ago, in Italy, we didn't celebrate Mother's Day. I was 18yearsold when I came to Canada. I became a mother very young. We started celebrating Mother's Day in Canada.

Q:What was it like when you became a mother?

A:It was a beautiful moment in my life.

Q:What do you love about being Frank's mom?

A:I'm very proud because he's a good boy. But sometimeshe's a little grouchy, but he's a good boy. He's responsible.

Q:What's the toughest part about being a mother?

A:It's a lot of responsibility. You have to be mature. I was mature even at 12 years old. I became a mother when I was 20. It was hard because I was still like a baby myself. We lived with my mother the first three, fouryears after I became a mother.

Q. What would you like forMother's Day this year?

A:I wish for all good mothers to be celebrated every week. Not gifts. Some flowers, I don't mind. I'm not very materialistic. I like to have love, that's the important thing for me.

Mike Finnerty's mom, Rosemarie

Q:What does Mother's Day mean to you?

A:It means a great deal because I have everyone of my family call me and tell me they love me and give me attention so what mother wouldn't like that? And because I don't have anybody living in the same city as I am, this is very precious to me.

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Q:Do you have a special Mother's Day memory?

A:Michael always calls me I call him Michael he always calls me on Mothers Day so that's always a special time.

Q:What do you love about being Mike's mom?

A:He is very caring and compassionate and this is exactly true, he never hesitates to give you a hug when you're around him. He never gets tooold for that and nor do I.

Q:What's the toughest part about being a mother?

A:The toughest part comes when something happens to one of your children because then you wish it would happen to you instead of them because you don't know how to fix it sometimes or you just sort of cry inside and try to give as much support and care as you can. I've been blessed that family is healthy so that's one thing I don't have too many problems with.

Q:Is there anything else you would like to add?

A:You have a good Mother's Day yourself and just give Mike a hug for me.