Flowers, candy, jewelry, maybe even a nice dinner out are just a few of the treats many moms hope for and get on Mother's Day.

But mothers whose children serve in the armed forces often wish for something more simple: They want their children to be safe. Or they just wish they could be with them on Mother's Day, or at least speak to them.

We spoke to four women who are members of the Fort Wayne Area Blue Star Mothers of Indiana. The organization is for people whose sons and daughters are serving or have served in a branch of the U.S. military. They support each other as well as local soldiers and veterans. Here's what they had to say:

Anita Trotter's son, Jonathan, now 32, had a good job working in Chicago for the investment firm Goldman Sachs at the beginning of the decade. Jonathan's priorities changed when many Goldman Sachs employees died in the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. Shortly after, he told his mother he wanted to join the military.

“I didn't think it was a good idea,” Trotter said. “9/11 seemed like such an ugly thing, and I just thought this would be an ugly involvement for the United States.”

Jonathan listened to his heart, not his mother. He flies B-52 bombers for the Air Force.

He's been deployed three times now, and when he's deployed, his mother doesn't know where he is. But she says her situation is better than other military moms, because “I know if no B-52s go down, he's safe. Mothers with sons on the ground, they don't have that safe feeling.”

Still, with a child in the military, “it's not like your child's in college in the next state.”

He's overseas on special assignment now and doesn't have the option to come home for Mother's Day. Trotter says her biggest wish for Mother's Day “probably is just a call from overseas, and let me have more than two minutes,” she said.

Her son has changed from his years in the military, and she says it's mostly a good change. “I'm very proud of Jonathan. Or Capt. Trotter, as they call him.”

Rita Lantz's son, Theodore Ilges, 20, had said since the fifth grade he planned to join the Navy. Then, when he was a sophomore in high school, he changed his mind and decided to join the Army.

He just got promoted to specialist, and is at Fort Bragg, N.C., being trained to go somewhere - possibly Afghanistan, Africa or Korea.

Lantz supported her son joining the military. She had wanted to do it herself, but never did. However, when he asked her to sign so he could join the Army during his senior year in high school, she initially said no. (Her signature was required because he wasn't yet 18.)

“I said, ‘You're gonna be 18 in a few months. I don't want to sign you up.' He said, ‘Mom, I'm not gonna change my mind.'”

So she did sign him up, and he joined the Army after he graduated.

“I couldn't be more proud,” Lantz said.

If he goes to Afghanistan, her feelings won't change. “I will pray for him and hope that God keeps him safe.

“All you ever want for your kids is to be happy, and he's real happy with being in the Army. He signed up for six years.”

She wishes she could see both her son and her daughter on Mother's Day.

But she said she already has her Mother's Day wish.

“Being a mom, I was blessed with two wonderful children, and I couldn't ask for anything more.”

Cathy Dutkiewicz's son, Ian, 20, joined the early-entry program for the Marines and left for Afghanistan on March 3. He will be there seven to 10 months. As a combat engineer, he helps build roads and bridges and is trained in explosives and demolition.

Dutkiewicz and her husband wouldn't sign for Ian, so he had to wait until he was 18 to enlist.

“I did not want him to join,” she said, her voice wavering. “I just was worried about him. I realize people have to do this for freedom, but I didn't want it to be my son.”

She is having a difficult time with her son away. “I'm very proud of him, but I'm worried, too.” Ian is the youngest of three children.

Dutkiewicz sends Ian care packages and draws support from other Blue Star moms. Her greatest wish for Mother's Day?

“I wish my son were home,” she said, crying.

With a son who's been in the Navy for 17 years, Kay Altekruse feels as if she is a “seasoned veteran” after so many years as a military mom. Matthew Altekruse, 36, is currently at Al Asad base in Iraq.

He's been in the Persian Gulf area five other times on a ship, but this is the first time he's “boots on the ground,” his mother said. “When they are on a ship sitting out there in the Persian Gulf, they're like sitting ducks,” she said. “Right now in Iraq, it's still not a safe place, but much safer than it has been in years past.”

Even after all these years, she still worries, but said, “I've got two other kids in town, and I worry about them, too. Once you're a mother, you worry. …

“For Matt, this is his career. You make a peace with it, you know? This is what he chose to do, wants to do. He's happy; he loves his job. You just come to a point where you accept it.”

Still, “it's hard when they go off at 18.”

Altekruse gets to see her son once or twice a year, and has twice spent time on his ship for a few days when it was coming back to port, when the Navy extends the invitation to military families.

“You were cruising on a ship, but it wasn't a cruise ship,” she said.

Her special wish on Mother's Day is that her family could all be together.

“That's all any mother, I think, wants,” she said.