Shutter Sisters

The Things We Hold

By

6-27-2008.jpg

 She had just turned forty, her seventh baby tied to her back.  Her hands were worn from tilling fields in her husband’s absence.  I saw weariness in her eyes, but also an unexpected kind of peace.  For every hardship, every year she felt overwhelmed or forgotten, the kindness of simple things remained–like the way a baby’s foot feels in the deep hollow of your hand.

 What kind of goodness have you discovered lately in somebody’s hands?  Or better yet, show us what you are holding in awe and wonder these days.   Leave us links to your hands or another’s in the comments below.

Comments

  9. My God-Daughter seemed to hold innocence in her hands on her First Holy Communion day in April…

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3198/2446578569_b5a880e451.jpg

    My niece and Nephew hold each others hands and hold on to childhood innocence as well…

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/2563819845_0d6b668ceb.jpg

    My mother holds a second chance at love in her hands. She re-married in April of last year.

    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/229/476783977_f7e9bd3ed6.jpg

  11. What a gorgeous photo! I can actually feel a baby’s foot in my hand when I look at it.

    I took this photo yesterday, while in the strawberry patch, of the sweet goodness held in my daughter’s berry stained hand:

    http://fimby.tougas.net/photo_pickin

    Berries are sweet but my girl is even sweeter!

  13. My papa’s hands will be a smell that I will remember for all the days of my life. They are rough-with all the years of his hard work, smell of machinery oil and tobacco. He’d rub my back with his bare hand but it was so rough it felt like he was scratching instead.
    His hands are so big that when I hold his, my hand is still swallowed and small-I can still hold onto his pinky the way I did when I was 5.

    Hands…they tell the story of our life. The hardships we’ve gone through-but they gesture, caress…they give a pat on the back.

    Here, I’ve watched my mothers hands soothe me-and now, watching her as a grandmother to my niece and nephews…
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/edarcy/2095979594/in/set-72157600746388045/
    They have changed so much. It’s in her hands that I really see her age-a grandmother. Imagine! my mom…

    In these hands, I hold hope.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/edarcy/2513920163/

    In my brothers hands, that holds the future…
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/edarcy/2378402374/

  21. What a beautiful photo Jen! I love feeling the softness of a baby’s foot and of course hands.

    I’m always in awe and wonder with my child and how quickly she’s growing and learning. It amazes me to think back at when she was first born, how drastically her world changed and was forced to adapt to everything.

    She is also in wonder of everything around her and I love it!

    http://www.dolcepics.com/dailypic/little-hands/

  28. The most beautiful and moving image I have seen in a long time. This one will stay in my memory.