SNOW DAY!

I didn't turn my PJs inside out, do a snow dance, or any of the other rituals exercised by children wishing for a snow day off from school. Amazingly, with only 3 inches of snow on the ground, we did have a snow day. Recent mornings when the white stuff has blanketed our country roads, there have been a few fender benders involving either high school students or buses or both.  These incidents tend to make the powers that be err on the side of caution.
Needless to say, I made good use of 8 unscheduled hours to catch up on laundry and the like, before heading to my craft room to fashion a snowman or two while the white flakes floated by the window outside. Working full time, I miss the minutes I used to carve out of my days to work with my hands. Whether it was crafting, quilting, or gardening, I was always working on SOMETHING.
Hands are amazing things.  They are the tools we use every day. They express love and embrace those we care about. They tend to sick children, catch butterflies and fly balls.  They fold in prayer, and reach out to those in need.  They say it is opposable thumbs that separate us from less intelligent creatures. I would prefer to believe it is what we do with those hands, and the emotions and intelligence that guides them that truly makes us compassionate and industrious beings.
I have spent hundreds of hours holding my mother's life-worn hands, and the opportunity to comtemplate what those hands have done for me and others in her lifetime.  She is such an amazing woman, whose hands served us well, from sewing my sister's and me dresses for dances, to preparing meals, or wiping tears from our sad little faces.  I still crave the touch of her hand on my face or shoulder when I have had a rough day and need to know someone cares.
And she does. She always has loved and cared for her family with such quiet grace and humor.
I hope my hands, and what I am able to do with them, will impact my own family with as much love and tenderness as I have received from Mom. There is nothing in this world like a mother's touch.
We all need to give each other a hand.
A warm country hug to all,
Lisa <3