Damn. Ugly Hands.
A couple of days ago, the most magical thing happened. I posted the above photo on Facebook before I went to bed.
I got up the next morning and as I had my morning cup of tea, I spotted this unkind comment:
Usually I delete not-so-nice comments and block the person, but something about this that morning...I just decided to reply.
I created a post including a screen shot of her comment. This is what I said:
"I would like to address Maria Hass who made the comment highlighted in the screenshot below about my "Damn. Ugly hands"
Marie, not everyone in the world has a beautiful thin body, the face of a model or beautiful hands. I used to have my daughter model the jewelry for me because she has gorgeous, flawless hands.
One day I got to thinking. I have mom hands. My hands changed diapers, braided a little girl's hair, sewed clothes, cooked meals, cleaned a house, dug a garden, fixed things around the house., cleaned horse tack, even helped dig a tractor out of the mud during a huge rainstorm when 80 head of horses needed to be fed. These hands drove kids all over town. My hands made a living as I raised a child alone. These hands took care of nitromethane burns, sore muscles and broken bones. Three years ago they learned how to inject insulin into my daughter when she was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. These hands lead a Brownie troop, helped my daughter paint a huge mural at school, raised money for the school and they have spent so many hours at this computer making a living that they hurt every day.
My hands have scars and wrinkles. These hands also have a rare disease called keratoelastoidosis marginalis. It's a rare form of sun damage that affects my thumb and index finger.
They are not pretty, but they are what I have and I use them well.
And I just know that there are other women out there with hands like mine. They are working hands. They are loving hands.
I like to use my hands so that everyone knows that even if you have "Damn Ugly Hands" like me you can have joy in wearing pretty jewelry. You deserve to.
You don't have to be as thin as a model to wear pretty clothing, beautiful feet to wear sandals or long 20 year old hair to dye your hair pink.
So Maria, who is so shy that you do not have your face shown in your profile photo, I will continue to model my jewelry with these ugly hands. They are going to be 57 years old this month and they have served me well."
So, I made sure that she was tagged in this post and hoped that perhaps she'd come read it and maybe think twice the next time she decided to bully someone.
I left to feed Red and take shipments to the post office. I was gone several hours. I came home to see if anyone had commented on the post. Maybe I should remove it and just delete it and block her.
I opened up my Facebook page and when I saw the magic that happened the tears fell! Not only did women comment, but the photos of hands started to appear as well as the stories of those hands.
Here are two collages of these beautiful working hands!
We have mothers, daughters, grandmas and babies. Family and friends. There are the hands of a police officer. The hands of a chef filled with ash and soot after her restaurant burned to the ground. The hands of a daughter holding her mother's hand as she is ready to start her journey to heaven. You see ranch hands and postal worker hands, hands that build and hands that cook and take care of families. Artist hands and the hand of a woman that lost a finger in an accident with a rope. I am so very touched by the true stories of these hands and the beautiful women that carry them.
Never in my life have I ever seen such an outpouring of love and sisterhood.
I felt like we, the women of the world were joining hands in unison to let this bully know that we are proud of our wrinkles, scars and imperfections. What an amazing experience. I am so grateful!
Thx for sharing!!!
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