Hands

So this year I’ve been thinking about what I’m thankful for and it’s been tough to pick one thing. All the blessings that we’ve experienced in just the passed three months (yes, we just passed the 3 month mark on the 16th) would be so hard to condense down into one short little statement of “I’m thankful for ________.” I just don’t think I could do it. But as I sat at our kitchen table last night making my mom’s stuffing recipe for our High School’s Thanksgiving party I began to cry because I realized what I was thankful for: Hands.
You see, for the past couple of years my Nana Phyllis wasn’t able to help much at Thanksgiving because her hands hurt her so much. But she could still tear up the bread for my mom’s stuffing. So I remember her sitting at the kitchen table in Natick tearing up the bread while the smell of butter & onions hung thick in the air. It was bittersweet to be sitting there tearing up the bread and to have the thought occur to me again, ‘her hands don’t hurt her anymore.’
It made me think of Nana Mella too and how her hands hurt her so much yet every year she would work through the pain to make apple pie because she loved us so much.
Of course I thought of my own mother’s hands as well. It was the day before Thanksgiving and from the time I got out of school until the time I went to bed I barely sat down. I wanted everything to be great for our students at the party today. I guess I get that from my mom, because I know her hands have been working non-stop since yesterday to make everything perfect for Thanksgiving. I miss all those hands right now but how can I be sad when I received such blessing from the Lord through all those hands and many more I haven’t even mentioned. Whose hands are you thankful for today?

On a lighter note, here’s a thought to make you all smile. I had quite a surreal moment this morning when we went to pick up the turkeys from the Bakery that cooked them over in Bethlehem. My student, Jamal, and I drove over at 8:00 to get them from the man who had been cooking them since midnight. So Jamal and I cross Manger Square in front of the Church of the Nativity to pick up these two turkeys with nothing more than dish towels to hold the pans with. And as we’re running across Manger Square each holding a 20 pound, flaming hot turkey I say to Jamal, “You know Jamal, most of my friends in the States will never get to visit Manger Square let alone run through it holding a 20 pound cooked turkey!” To which Jamal replied “Please Mister, just don’t drop it or the whole High School will be mad at us!” Needless to say the turkeys made it and the party was success. Happy Thanksgiving everybody, we love you and miss you all.