I was hemming a top yesterday, after I cut it off to make it shorter to hang better with a cardigan.  When I turned it over and saw the small stiches, I was immediately taken back to childhood.  A wave of love washed over me, and I had to stop for a moment.  Those hand stitches reminded me of my Mom and her loving care as she made 21 dresses each summer for 3 little girls. Later, she would make polyester pantsuits (in the ‘70’s) and later hot pants!  She made church dresses and graduation outfits and prom dresses.  She even made bridesmaid dresses for my sister’s wedding and two of my weddings. 

My mom and I haven’t always had a good relationship.  As the oldest of three girls, I was the rebel. She said that even as a little girl, I always asked “Why?”  I always challenged her and just about everything!  When Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code came out and she read it, she called me to say that when I was really little, I asked, “Mama, is Mary Magdalene Jesus’s girlfriend?” As a Southern Baptist, she considered such talk blasphemous. 

We argued a lot. I acted out a lot.  I got spanked a lot.  I got my mouth washed out with soap a lot. Yet, she made me 7 dresses every summer, just as she did for my two sisters.

I went to college and lived at home, so any time I was late or caught with alcohol on my breath, I was in BIG trouble.  It happened quite a bit, I’ll admit.

Do you understand that my mom and I weren’t close? So, when I saw those stitches and felt the wave of love pour over me, I better understood that she SHOWED her love in those stitches.  

In the loving care that went into each little school dress and later special dresses and outfits for precious occasions.   

And so those stitches remind me of Love.  Love that was hard for her to show me, but now I know that it was there . . .