H is for …

Published on by Jane

H was so much harder than I thought it would be! H is for…my hands.

My hands are my mother’s, my own, my knitting, loving, useful hands. They keep me sane, express my imagination, type these words, accept my benign neglect. If I were ever going to get a tattoo, it would be a tiny one to honor the creating my hands have done — a spiral or a spider, at the base of my left thumb (not happening any time soon, though).

H is for…hope. As in I hope this reincarnated clapotis works. I got all the way to the decrease section, and I didn’t like it. Too wide, too short, not right. I found the outside end of the ball of yarn, cast on from there, and worked until it met the first attempt. I hated that one (too narrow) so I ripped it out and started again. Will it work? I know, I know, it’s the process. I like the process. But. How long before I tire of this? How long before I balk at the deadline I’ve created? My sister’s birthday is in just over three weeks. Three busy weeks. There’s always hope.

H is also for…hoping. This is a picture of my mother in late summer, 1954. It’s one of her favorites. It was taken in our big back yard on the farm, next to the well where it was always shady and cool. She might or might not have known, at the time this was taken, that she was pregnant with me.

This is my birthday week, and I like to think, when I look at this beautiful, smiling woman who will be my mother, that she’s hoping she’ll have a child who’ll turn out to be just like me!

13 thoughts on “H is for …”

  5. Happy, happy birthday, dear Jane. What a lovely post. Your mom must have known that you were in the offing – just look at the bliss on her face!Lissa

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  6. I love that picture of your mom. I don’t think I’ve ever looked that “put together” in a candid photo, unless you count my wedding reception.

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  7. I HOPE you know how glad I am you are in my life, how happy I was to find you waiting, like a gift, at the KRRetreat last fall, how much I look forward to the next time we can give each other a big Hug.I adore birthdays and celebrate mine all month long.

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  8. Many happy returns of the day! I don’t even know you, yet I’m so glad you were born, and that you’re a blogger. Hope you have serious celebration plans for your birthday festival season.What a gorgeous person your mother was. Bravo!!

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  10. Sweet Jane,A loving & joyous bouquet of b’day wishes to you. Like Bess, you were a gift of 2005 for me – 1st on line, then at Rhinebeck & then at the Retreat.Thanks for all you share about you & thanks for telling us more about your momma.Happy b’day, dear heart.XOXO

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  13. What a great “h” post – so creative and thought provoking. It made me pasue, and contemplate gratitude for these creative hands of mine.Happy Birthday dear Jane – and, like Lissa, I do believe that your Mom must have secretly known she was pregnant with you! Her smile is divine, bliss, absolute joy… and rightly so.

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