Aliso Viejo Moms Share Memories for Mother's Day

Nothing binds us to our mothers like memories. To celebrate Mother's Day, several Aliso Viejo moms share their stories.

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Lisa Sachen is the mother to Josie, 10, Sawyer, 7, Montana, 3 and Savannah, who died from a rare form of cancer when she was 8 years old.

Sachen remembers a special time with her own mom.

Just the two of them were in their VW bug singing "Don’t Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John and Kiki Dee at the top of their lungs and laughing at their off-key voices.

“It was just a time that made me feel carefree and loved,” Sachen said.

Sachen feels blessed to have several mother figures in her life.  She is especially close to her husband’s mother, Dianne, her dad’s wife, Karen, and her Aunt Joanie.

Sachen remembers Mother’s Day, 2007:

“My firstborn, Savannah Lee, let me videotape her reciting a poem she had written for me as my Mother’s Day gift.  It is by far the most precious gift I have ever received, as it is the last video I have of the little girl who made me a mom.  Savannah went to Heaven a week after Mother’s Day that year.  The eight years that I was blessed to be her mommy is what I will remember on this and every Mother’s Day.  I am also incredibly blessed to have three more children that I love and adore, each for their own marvelous individuality.”

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Sharri Coker, mother to Ethan, 12 and Annie, 7, remembers waking up as a little girl and “being excited to give my mom the present I made for her in school.  Being one of five children, I always felt the need to fight for my mom’s attention.”

Coker said her mom made all of her children feel special, but when they handed her their gifts they would all yell, “Open mine first!” or “Don’t you like mine best?”

Now, when her children yell, “Open mine first!” Coker smiles, remembering her childhood.

Mother’s Day 1999 is a day Coker said she will never forget.  It was her first Mother’s Day with her son and the last one to celebrate with her mom.

Even though Coker's son, Ethan, was her mother’s ninth grandchild, “she made him feel special and gave him much attention.” Coker said.

As her family barbecues on Mother’s Day, Coker tells her children stories about Bubbie (their grandmother) and they make garden stones in her memory.

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Karina Penkethman, mother to Liam, 10, James, 6 and Andrew, 4, has fond memories of her mom reading stories on car trips. 

“When I was young, my family would take the long car trip from Utah to California for summer vacation.  My sister and I would sit in the back seat of our red VW bug with a cooler full of soda between us.  Over the sound of the desert wind whistling through the window, my mom would read to us.”

As her mom read "Treasure Island," Penkethman felt like she was in two places at once—the desert outside their car and “a tropical island filled with danger and adventure.”

Now, Penkethman is sharing her love of books with her boys.  

“Whether in our living room or on the road, reading great books to my children has been one of the most pleasurable shared activities of motherhood.  No matter what age my children are, I hope to always have a good book going—something to read aloud, talk about, laugh about, even cry about.”

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Kelley Adam, a mother of two, says  her grandmother always made her feel special when she was a child.

One time her grandmother and  her mother “proudly wore, out to the park, the paper earrings that I had so painstakingly made for them.”

As an adult, Adam wanted to let her grandmother know how much she had touched her life, so she taught herself to sew and made a quilt.  Each square of the quilt represented memories that they shared. 

“She later told me that it was the best gift that she had ever received,” Adam said.

Now, Adam uses her sewing talent to make costumes for her family. 

One Halloween, Adam dressed up as Cruella de Vil and her two daughters were dalmation puppies.  

Adam's husband, Robert, enjoys dressing up for their daughters' birthday parties.  For a mermaid party, he was King Triton and for a Curious George Party he was The Man in the Yellow Hat.

As Adam creates memories for her family, she is grateful to her grandmother for teaching her “one of the most precious gifts a parent can give their children is the gift of time and kindness.”