THIS HAND - A SOLILOQUY

MY 75+ YEAR-OLD HAND

Once in awhile, in short moments of reflection, memories and stories of my life click, like a slide show, or roll like a movie, before my eyes.

Noticing the aged and wrinkled look of my hand, I took this picture. Viewing all the wrinkles, I reflected some of the events of my life this hand had endured, enjoyed, sometime survived.

Once it was a chubby, perfectly formed hand,  of a newborn child whose mother had endured the pain of delivery coupled with the depression of separation from her child due to personal circumstances.

A loving, childless couple almost immediately adopted the child with perfect hand, and to them the priceless gift of another, made it entirely perfect.

This hand, all too soon was learning to hug hold and play.  Soon this hand had siblings with which to interact. and play. Sometimes as siblings do, there little tempers rose and this hand, as others, were used in small skirmishes. There were many good times, too.

This hand helped her Mother with chores and thereby learned household skills needed in later years.

This hand developed love of music, art, and work and football. After several events, it was trained in a service profession, pharmacy. In retirement love of music, art and football continue.

This hand has witnessed the extinct great mammoths of South Dakota to the dromedaries of Morocco. It has interacted with many cultures inside the US and some outside of US.

This hand held the spoon  to taste heavenly date honey in the Sahara to the varied honeys of America.  The cuisines are inumerable as the memories of them, both inside and outside US.


This hand has played in childhood sandboxes and sifted sands of the Sahara desert. It has seen sunrises and sunsets on many US  lakes and also a sand dune in the Sahara desert.

This hand learned there were moral and spiritual forces in life including prayer, often performed by intertwining with both hands.  Prayer became an early habit in childhood as this hands and the hands of the siblings all said evening prayers.

This hand was entranced and enthralled with learning, starting with a private kindergarten through the university level to this day as it helps type this blog, and probably will continue until the mind fails to instruct, or it is silenced by departure of its soul.

This hand has traveled many miles both in touring and in living. It has learned some of life's lessons the hard way; it has also helped endure some of life's saddest events as well asenjoy  some its most joyous events.

This hand learned to share in others' joy, sorrow and misfortune, helping or comforting when it understood the need.

This hand is not that of a perfect person. It has seen sometimes shameful behavior, particularly in younger years, hypocrisy in moral values and not always respectful of the dignity of all peoples and their belief systems.

This hand has endured several health issues and about 12 minor or major surgeries. It has always bounced back. It seems to have indominable spirit of recovery.

This hand has loved nature and animals. It has patted and loved many dogs and a few cats.

This hand has had a companion of 43 years, holding and pledging the traditional vows to each other 43 years Feb. 22, 1969. There have been more good times than bad,  nor was it match made in heaven. This hand might have done some things differently, but learned however slowly.

Like the rest of life, there have been laughter, tears, some anger, some compromise. However, this hand did not  have the fortune of good health, but its opposite partner has endured and supported through the years.

Now this hand and that of its companion are facing the sunset years of  life. These years continue to be as they were trained so many years ago. It seems the only difference is the length of time it  takes to complete ordinary daily tasks.

So with this somewhat wandering  soliloquy I end. It is time for me to prune the neglected roses in my yard, which are showing new leaves and buds, as are the forsythia bushes.

PHOTOS: NitWit1, unless otherwise attributed.