Old Hands

My mom believed that eyes, indeed, "were the windows of the soul." But she also felt that hands were. She said you could tell much about a person by their hands -- the callouses or lack thereof hinted at the type of labor the person pursued. Well the hands on the left, above, are the hands of a 51-year-old gramma who spends much of the day pecking away on a computer keyboard. The hands of the 29-year-old on the right spin thread and yarn, weave, fix creative meals from unique ingredients, hug and snuggle her at-home children. . .
But I often wonder why the veins and bones of my hand, the one on the left, are so visible, so angular, almost harsh? And how did my daughter's come to be so soft, smooth and graceful?
These photos were taken by the careful application of my son-in-law's hands artfully choosing the appropriate settings on his camera and then, at just the right moment, snapping the photo on Magdalena Hope's first day of school.