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TOMORROW’S the day to tell the person who cares for you most in the world you love them, and maybe make them breakfast or buy them their favourite bunch of flowers.
Ballarat identities Drew Petrie, Gorgi Coghlan and Jane Bunn say their mums are a large part of their lives.
North Melbourne AFL player Mr Petrie described his mother, Sue Petrie, as someone that’s always been there and continues to be.
The middle child of three, Mr Petrie’s mother left nursing after the birth of her third child to be a full-time mum.
“She started keeping a scrapbook of us three kids from when we were young, which she’s continued all the way through.
“She’s got all the newspaper cuttings of us kids where we’ve appeared in a paper,” Mr Petrie said.
Mr Petrie said his parents travelled from Ballarat to see every football match in Melbourne, and made it to a few interstate matches a year.
“She still cooks up bits and pieces, and brings them down and drops them off before a game,” he said.
“It’s all my old favourites, like stewed apples which she’s made as long as I can remember and a great hedgehog slice, which still gets me every time.”
Television presenter Gorgi Coghlan said her mum, Kay Rendell, was her best friend.
“I’m very fortunate to have my mum ... and since becoming a mother myself, our relationship has just deepened,” Mrs Coghlan said.
“You only get one childhood and my mum did her best to make it the best possible.
“Growing up, I remember my mum being a dynamic and intelligent woman who had good ideals about women’s strength and equality – so I grew up not seeing any barriers in gender and believed I could do anything I wanted to.”
Mrs Coghlan had her first child in December 2010, Molly-Rose.
“My mother, my daughter and I all love horses – it’s our common bond,” Mrs Coghlan said.
“We’ve just introduced Molly-Rose to horses, at two years old, the same age that my mum introduced me. All of us love being surrounded by horses.”
This Mother’s Day, Mrs Coghlan and her family will travel to the coast and have lunch at a nursery.
“It’s always been a day that you look at your mother and thank her – but it has changed since I became a mother,” she said. “Your appreciation of the day increases 10 fold.”
WinTV weather presenter Jane Bunn said her relationship with her mother, Bev Jennings, had blossomed as she had grown older.
“I’m the eldest of three girls, and my dad left soon after my youngest sister was six weeks old, so I grew up in an all-girls household ... even our dog was female,” Ms Bunn said.
“We have a good relationship. We’re two strong personalities and it’s amazing how much better your relationship improves when you move out of home.”
Ms Bunn said some of her fondest childhood memories were of having family meals.
“My mum absolutely hates cooking and anything to do with the kitchen really,” she said. “But when she did cook, I absolutely loved it. I think that lead to my love of cooking now.”
She said if there was ever a solvable problem, her mum would fix it.
“On my wedding day, we had the song chosen from our first dance on CD and we didn’t realise until the reception that we’d left it at home,” Ms Bunn said.
“Immediately my mum dropped everything and drove the 20 minutes there and 20 minutes back to pick it up – just so the day would be perfect.”
Ms Bunn said she would be seeing her mum tomorrow for brunch, before having a late lunch with her husband’s parents as well.
nicole.cairns@fairfaxmedia.com.au