thoughts, words, deeds

some handy thoughts

Look at your hands. What do they mean to you? What is the meaning or emotion hiding in each line, blemish, wrinkle, scar, or the lack of those things if you have perfect hands?

This is an interesting prompt, mostly because it's been a while since I've truly examined my hands. I remember an art class when I was a senior in high school. We were given the assignment to draw our hands. Some people took time and made a large hand (usually a left hand because the right was used to sketch) filled with lines and shading. Me, I took that paper and drew about twenty hands in various sizes, all lefties. I went for quick and impressionistic instead of slow and detailed. So . . . here goes.

I don't bite my fingernails any more. I used to. I don't remember why I did or why I stopped, but I was an adult at the time. Right now, I have fingernails clicking against my keyboard as I type. My pinky fingers don't look alike. There's a story behind that. When I was very young (toddler) I accidently shut my finger in my parent's filing cabinet. My left pinky is a bit deformed as a result.

In the center of the back of my left hand is a little round scar from the IV they had in me when I was in the ICU. There's two more on the inside of both elbows and another in the middle of my left forearm from where they pushed iron in me a couple of years ago when I was severely anemic. It was black and reminded me of demon blood and took a long time to push. But I felt better with some actual blood in my veins.

On my left wrist (and a few random places on my left hand that I can't find any more) are three small scars over the veins where I put my hand through a pane of glass on a door. I was trying to close it at the time. That one took a while to bleed, which means it wasn't arterial, but once it started, I couldn't get it to stop. That was a scary one. But I cleaned up the glass. I was twelve when that happened.

I don't paint my nails. I dislike random things catching my eye and drawing my attention. I also don't wear rings. I have a bracelet that I wear sometimes (especially if I'm going to be traveling on my own. It's a med ID that Mama got me. She gets nervous.

I don't play an intstrument. My sister has told me in the past that it's a shame I don't play paino because I inherited my grandma's long fingers. They aren't very long, but I can span about an octave easily and can add another third if I stretch.