Hands

Our family has been down and out for a while.  Colds+strep+nasty stomach bug.  It all got me thinking about hands.

"Why hands?" you may ask.  Well, I've spent a lot of time maniacally scrubbing and looking at my hands over the past couple of weeks.

I thought about the work my hands were doing.  Loving and caring for sick people so important to me.  Rubbing backs. Washing sheets.  Getting food and drink.  Giving medicine.  Driving to the doctor.  I couldn't think of a better service for my hands to be doing.

Then I thought about the hands in my life.  The ones forever burned in my memory.

There's the big ones:
1. My mother's hands that endlessly scratched my back all my life (among many many other things) and never stopped.  They just gave and gave until I was satisfied, never turning a finger to wag or scold, just scratching and scratching so selflessly.
2. My father's hands that always, always give hugs and pats on the head as he tells me I'm "such a peach".
3. My love's hands that I held across the alter and that hold me up every day - that lift my spirits every time I see the ring on his finger telling me and the world that he is there for me and our family.
4. The chubby little boy hands that may poke and prod, but also hug and high-five and hold.
5. A friends hands that pick up a phone to let me know they are there for me and that I mean something to them and they care.

There's the little ones:
1. While in the "city" a pair of burly hands were etched into my mind.  A pair of hands that came from nowhere to pull my heavily laden cart through a slushy lot to beastie.  A task impossible for my hands alone.  A task that would have pushed my day over the edge... and instead was met with the kindness of a stranger's hands.
2. The hands of a woman who helped me retrieve a sea of blueberries from the floor of Wally World and showed me it happens to us all.

Then there's the hands.  The hands bearing the mark.  The hands held in supplication for our sakes, wet with sweat and blood.  The hands that hold us all up. 

I know every family has times like this - when sickness after sickness moves through - but that doesn't make it easy.  So right now, though maybe I should lean on them even more, I'm so grateful for the hands that hold me up.

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Lesson learned:  Don't blowdry your hair on HOT while wearing huge metal earrings.  Ouch.