Hands

Hands. So important to us. You can give someone a hand to offer help. You can hold your loved one's hand to offer comfort. You can lay a hand on someone to heal. Hands have so many nerve endings that our hands are extremely sensitive.

But have you ever taken a good long look at your hands? The palm has a roadmap of lines and grooves that some palm readers can look at and claim to tell us more about ourselves, our pasts and our futures. Our fingerprints are unique to each of us and defines who we are in databases and in some cases to allow us access to our bank accounts, cars and houses.

I like to look at the back of my hand. I can see the aging process there. The skin, not as smooth as it once was as a child, is now creased with character. But yet, there is something a bit familiar in the shape of my hand, in the shape and length of my fingers and nails. I see my mother's hands.

I see the comforting calm of my mother's hands as they used to reach out and touch me when I was sad or hurt. I see the day that I held her hand as she slowly left me for the last time. I held that hand as long as I could, I memorized the shape, the smell and the feel of her fingers and skin. I wanted that moment to be with me forever. Yes, it was painfully sad, but now when I gaze down at my own hands, I feel as though a part of her will be with me forever.

Hands clasp, hands reach, hands feel, hands applaud, hands raise, hands comfort, hands connect.