Every one of us, if we're lucky, has hands. We use and abuse them every day. We gesture with them, as well as work, eat, touch, and pray. Some of us play musical instruments. Some of us cook, sew, garden and console.Some look after their hands with regular manicures. Some of us slap a little lotion on them each day and hope for the best. Most of us like to decorate them with paint and jewels.
Most of all, we use them. they get burned, hammered, nicked, sliced, bitten and shut in the car door.
Mine are usually damaged by hand-sewing. They have been left out in the sun enough to develop spots. They swell up in the heat, and turn purple in the cold. So what?
I still use them to rub Husband's shoulders and hands, to stroke the cats, to hug my children and grandchild. I sew costumes, knit blankets, do macramé.
Do we judge ourselves by how lovely our hands are? I don't. I judge myself by what I do with them.
Excellent entry, Ronni! Loving hands are absolutely beautiful to the ones being loved. The most attractive hands can be instruments of ugliness.
ReplyDeleteDon't go away until you read the next entry!
ReplyDeleteWell said, and so true!
ReplyDeleteMy hands have taken a beating over the years, I will never be asked to model anything except maybe work gloves.
ReplyDeleteI remember my grandmother's arthritic gnarled hands, how loving, soft and cool they were to the touch. They were so fragile looking, I was in awe of everything that she could accomplish with them.
Even into her eighties, she was "briar stitching" all of her patchwork quilts, which she assembled on a treadle machine. I think she would be proud that I use my hands as tools, much the same way she did.
Our hands are tools. Some say it's the fact that we have thumbs that is responsible for all the advances in civilization.
ReplyDeleteWe sure can't do a whole lot without them!
Wonderful entry, Ronni.
ReplyDeleteCharlie Chan
I like red, too!
ReplyDeleteTerrific entry, Ronni! Very poetic.
ReplyDeleteWho you callin' poetic?!
ReplyDeleteBite your tongue, Lady!
This WAS a great entry! So straight-forward and to the heart. It really focuses attention on what is important in life. I guess it's easy to nitpick and critisize another person. It's a whole 'nother matter when you realize that there are humans behind these nics with a lot of good being given to the world.
ReplyDeleteThanks again Vero!
All these hands belong to women who have loved and been loved, worked their tails off for their families, gone out into their communities to be a force for positive change, and are respected and loved in their real lives.
ReplyDeleteVero -
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this entry. And since I kinda know some of these hands, that made it even more of an excellent read. You are brilliant and I am amazed by how you put my thoughts into words so very often. And so much more eloquently than I could.
j
Sorry, Vero, I don't know why it put my picture up there. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteYou are all too kind! Thank you very much!
ReplyDeleteYAHOO, hands. Kewl, idea.
ReplyDeletePsst Justin, great pic!
That's moKat, not moCat. My hateful detractors no nothing about me. So sad, I am a very good friend.
Well, hi there, Mokat! Good to see you!
ReplyDeleteWhat hateful detractors? Put them on "iggy!"