Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Holding Hands

I scraped my knuckles on the concrete lip of a pool at a Connecticut campground when I was eight. The rural hideaway seemed like the middle of nowhere, then. My skin didn't heal. I thought I'd have the mark forever, but when I searched for it today, it was almost gone.

Now I live an hour away from where I grew up--close to the central nowhere campground that seemed so far away--and I realize my state is small. My skin is wizening in infinitesimal degrees and the folds cover scars. I am almost 29, the age at which my mother had me. After being born, I always noticed her hands. I compared them to my own lineless fingers and found her old. She was not, of course. But 29 separates us still and, with each passing year, the wrinkles deepen.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

This piece strikes me as, I don't know... wow... WOW!

S said...

I remember so many times as a kid thinking that my mother was old. And she was younger then than I am now.

Strange, these perceptual shifts...

Jerri Ann said...

That's funny. My hands look a lot like my dad's because of the shape of our fingernails, however, my actual hands, look like my mom's did when I thought those wrinkles were so unattractive. Now, all I see are "our" hands....I'm not old am I? AT 38?

Lawyer Mama said...

I remember thinking of my mother as old too. But she had me when I was 22 and I had my first child at 33, so what will *my* kiddos think?

Chicky Chicky Baby said...

I think about my mother's hands constantly. I think hands are the body part that connects mothers and daughters that holds the most fascination

Girlplustwo said...

beautiful. and winding.

Mom101 said...

This is so beautiful. Every time I get here (which is way not often enough these days) I'm always so impressed by your writing.

Anonymous said...

What a sad & beautiful post. And so true.
My mother still doesn't have any wrinkles, and she is single with a new boyfriend it seems every week.
I have more wrinkles than her, and my teenage son's main frustration lately is his friends hitting on his mother and grandmother....what a wierd world!

Anonymous said...

Dude, you're old.

Anonymous said...

With age comes wisdom..or so I'll keep telling myself! You made me smile, thanks :)

Jocelyn's stories said...

concise and beautiful!