My two hands have served me loyally for a great many years, but now they are making noises about a partial retirement. Since I am not a good listener, the signs have been growing ever less subtle: carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, and this nasty tearing pain in my right primate muscle every time I knit more than four or five rows at a sitting. What to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, I have heard someone who played a doctor on TV say that everything we do is basically a stall. While that\u2019s a daunting thought, I suppose it\u2019s a truth that we must simply accept if we want to experience some happiness during our time in this mortal coil. My hand-related stalls to date: wrist braces, generous doses of acetaminophen, a hand cream laced with painkillers, stretching exercises, and poorly monitored periods of rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hands are strange and marvelous creatures, able to thread a needle or catch a ball or wrangle any one of the myriads of today\u2019s labor-saving devices without breaking a sweat. In my case, the right is clearly the boss. I am especially intrigued by the concept of muscle memory. I can knit, crochet, type, and tie my shoes; my hands can show you how, but don\u2019t expect me to explain any of those things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I look at my hands, they look the same to me as they always have. I see the scar I got in 1983 from cutting lettuce in a busy restaurant kitchen. I still have the freckles. My fingers are still blunt and square, making the use of nail polish ill-advised. But I know that my hands have changed. My fingers have thickened to that point that I can\u2019t get my wedding rings past my first knuckle, and arthritis is doing its level best to bend everything in odd directions. The pain and numbness are always there to some extent, waiting to take center stage if I forget to rest and stretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am most grateful to these hands of mine, and I haven\u2019t always been the most thoughtful host. So here, then, is my proposal to these two good and loyal friends: Ralph, Louie, you keep doing all the wonderful things you know how to do, and I promise in return to give you lots of paid vacation, not to mention some good drugs and the best daily spa treatments that money can buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For your further edification:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hands-1.jpg\")
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