When I look at my hands, my first thoughts are about my palms. I went to a palm reader when I was living in Washington, D.C., and she told me that I would have three children, a successful career, and live to a very old age. I believe that my hands represent some of the hopes and dreams that I have for my future.
I also see scars on my wrist from a bad tumble I took while running once in college. My middle fingers both bear permanently swollen knuckles from high school basketball injuries. The index finger on my right hand has a paper cut from an envelope I opened too fast. So I guess my hands also represent some of my mistakes and accidents from the past.
My nails are manicured right now, colored in a pretty purple that's just perfect for the fall. I don't usually get my nails done, but I decided to splurge for a friend's wedding last weekend. It's the first time that I've pampered myself in months; I've been pretty broke since I moved up to Buffalo this summer.
My hands offer a direct connection to the world around me. They have painted a playhouse for the local Boys and Girls Club, held my sister's baby, cuddled my pet bunny, cooked meals, taken pictures while traveling abroad, and written in a journal. My hands help me express myself and take care of the people that I care about.
Allegheny National Forest
Niagara Falls
6 comments:
Ceci: You brought life into your hands and made them human by giving them "hope and dreams," human frailty, self-indulgence, charity, and love. As an aside, the pictures on your blog made me wonder - did those hands take those photos? - Frank
I love the photos! Your page is an inviting and beautiful space.
Your hands--I like the span of time. The way you bring us to that moment in the past with the palm reader and how she extends her vision to the future and then how we go back in time and see the past, the scars.
I also like how you've included how they look right now and what that says about you--how getting them painted is something different for you, it tells us about the current changes in your life.
I also love the specific details in the last paragraph. Great work!
I thought this piece was sweet and touching. A lot of different episodes that reveal a little about you through your hands.
Broke, pampered, mistakes and accidents (but hopes and dreams for the future)your hands do offer a direct connection to the world around us. I feel your hands reaching out. Good job.
It's clear that you connect with the world largely through your hands. You've given us a 'hands-portrait' of someone who is actively engaged with life.
Hello Ceci, of course, short for Colleen, a beautiful Iris name. Most do not know the origin of the Irish greeting, 'Top of the morning,' and I love to tell that it came from the poet, John Locke who wrote:
Oh Ireland is'nt it grand you look
Like a bride in her rich adornin'
'Tis with all of the love in my heart
I wish you top of the morning.
How accurate were the predictions
of the fortune teller?
Although the assignment was to describe the hands, I truly prefer to know what the hands do or did and thus I most especially liked your last paragraph, warm and tender.
Best,
Hal Fishbein
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