HANDS

These hands raised five kids all alone.
These hands worked in a dry cleaners
for many years, ironing, removing stains,
earning money to feed five kids.
These hands learned to type and take short
hand when they were over 50 years old.
Then they worked at a court house...
typing and filing and constantly working.
They are the hands that cooked and baked
and made many family favorites and memories.
They are hands that learned to quilt when
they were more than sixty years old.
They made quilts for those five kids
and all of their kids too......
then they made quilts for great grandkids.
These hands spent many a summer in the garden.
Growing food.
They comforted sick children.
They wrote birthday cards, and graduation cards,
wedding wishes.

Now, these hands don't move much. They are
over ninety years old.
After a stroke, one of those little hands
doesn't move at all. Those hands that
worked so hard and cared for so many,
now cannot even take care of their owner.
She must be cared for by other's hands.