My Mother’s Hands
Aug 15th, 2008 by Nola
Sun likes to hold my hand when she is readying herself for a nap. Actually, she likes to hold just one finger in her small hands. She’s done this since she was born. She’d hold your finger as she bottle fed.
My mother commented once that Sun has my hands. I looked more closely. And although her thumbs don’t appear to be double-jointed like mine (and the thumbs on my mother’s side of the family), her hands do indeed look like mine. And my hands, in turn, look like my mother’s and, in turn, her mother’s. The shape of my fingernails resemble my father’s nails, and my brothers’ nails look like mine too. But the movement of my hands remind me very much of the movement of my mother’s hands.
I never quite realized the similarity before. I have never been overly fond of my hands–they are small but not delicate or striking. And my cuticles are always ruined; but that is my fault and not genetic.
It took me using my hands as a mother to Sun to realize I had my mother’s hands all along.
Just right… it’s it astonishing when you realise how much our physiological features are part of a long line of family tradition and even gestures and facial expressions are passed on through generations?
that was beautiful. and so true. i have my mothers hands. she has her fathers hands. my youngest son…he has my hands!
hey, guess what?! i’m coming to nola in october for blogher. i’ll be hanging with tara…if mom says ok…
and you, right?!
melissa (formerly known as suchsimplepleasures)
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That was so sweet. I love that Sun holds your hand like that.
(I see Melissa got here before me… we’re invading NOLA and you have to come out and play with us! )
Tara R.’s last blog post..Life’s little mysteries…
My 6-mo old baby girl does that while I’m giving her a bottle. She tries to peel my fingers away from it and then wraps her little hand tightly around my index finger. I love to watch her little brow concentrate while she does it. So damn cute.
pistolette’s last blog post..Programming Note
What an endearing story. Brings back my own long-ago days as mother of an infant and makes me long to hold a little baby again. But I don’t want 24/7 care of a baby–gettin’ too decrepit to handle that. My baby’s now 26…guess I’m feeling ready to be a grandma!
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[...] ***Nola Notes is examing her hands these days. [...]
(psst… I have something for you over at my place.)
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My God that’s cute.
I pray that my kids don’t get my hands. Unless they want to be concert pianists, because fingers are not supposed to be this freakishly long.
(The fingerprinting guy said I was the only person he’d ever met who couldn’t fit all 4 non-thumb fingers comfortably into the box. My pinky is normalish but my middle finger is literally twice the length of the pinky, and my pointer and ring finger are just slightly shorter. I am a freak.)
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Yup, I have my mother’s hands too! And I like them! Long fingers. Nice nail beds. Wrinkly knuckles.
mybayouvieux’s last blog post..So how’d the first day go?
That’s so sweet! My son doesn’t have much of me anymore, I think, but he does like for me to either have my hand sitting on his butt or my hand on his ear when he goes to sleep. If I don’t do either one he’ll grab my hand and put it where he feels he wants it and that’s usually on his ear. Sometimes he’ll even hold my hand while I have it on his ear. I’m told it’s a comfort thing but I’m not sure who it’s a comfort thing for: him or for me:)
Lovely piece.
btw one part of your recent comment on a recent post I didnt reply on was this, ‘Good luck!’…
;0)
Xbox4NappyRash’s last blog post..Crossing off the days
Motherly movements, perhaps? This is sweet.
Mozi Esme’s Mommy’s last blog post..More Busyness
So sweet!
)
jen’s last blog post..See you later in the week…
I have this mental image in my head of your daughter looking like a mini-version of you. Meet up soon? Actually, just call. It’s not like I’m doing anything.
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So beautiful
Thank you for posting this. I’ve been telling hubby this all along. Our little girl has his hands and I think of him every time she holds my finger. He still doesn’t see it. Men!
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I don’t know if I have my mother’s hands, but I do know that any ache or pain I ever had could be instantly soothed by holding on to her thumb. At 29, I will still reach for her thumb if it’s within reach and I’m unhappy enough. Nothing in this world makes me feel as safe as that.
Of course, now I’m staring at my hands and wondering where the similarities are.
This was beautiful.. and now I must go check out my moms hands…
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