V is for Victory, Victorious

V is Victory, Victorious.  Normally when I hear the word Victory I burst into song. Really! Just ask my husband and daughter.

O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

I love the old hymns—we rarely sing them anymore and I miss them.

We had a victorious trip yesterday. I drove the entire ten hours. I normally do. Hubby can read and nap in a moving vehicle; I can’t because I’ll get car sick, so I drive…and plot. At one point, I heard him talking. I replied, “Say that again, I wasn’t listening—I was blogging.” He gets nervous when I’m lost in writing thoughts while driving.

After six hours on the road, we stopped off to visit my mom. I’m always filled with dread at how she might respond, how she’ll look. Where her mind might be. Another victory! She was alert, smiling and had quick come-backs to our teasing. She enjoyed talking about the past since that’s all she can remember, but even the past is a little hazy. She commented that she sewed a lot for me when I was a kid, made all my clothes. She did. I had “Mom Originals” with shoes to match. Remember, she was a perfectionist. I was often written up in our school newspaper because of what I wore: “Jessica looked like the breath of spring in  her yellow dress with the tiny blue and pink flowers. The yellow t-strap sandals were the perfect accessory.” Or something of the sort.

I asked Mom if she remembered making a bird costume for me, sewing feathers to material. I was glad I had a picture on my iPhone to jog her memory. When I went through her home, I was able to snap pics of other pics so I could email them to myself. I'm second from the right.

Mom also talked about how she used to sit in the car waiting for me to get finished with my piano lessons. Her memory is a little distorted there. Mom never waited on much of anything. She was the original multi-tasker and always wanted to accomplish several things at once. While I struggled with chords and Mrs. Brown the piano teacher, Mom was at the grocery store, or drug store, or running errands for a friend--or all three! I was the one who sat at the curb waiting when my lesson was over.

When we got to Louisiana, we were blessed by a visit from our daughter bearing a mother’s day gift, and we stayed up late talking. I slept until 8:00 a.m. this morning! Sure felt good. We’ll head back to see Mom on Saturday for another walk down memory lane.

What did you do when you were a kid? Take dancing or piano lessons? Play basketball, football or baseball? Write poems or your first novel? How were your parents involved in your young life and activities?