Have you ever watched the movie Beaches
with Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey?
Barbara Hershey's character has a fatal heart ailment that there is no treatment for.
In one scene, Barbara and her little daughter are looking at old family pictures
and as both their hands fall upon the same picture,
the daughter says, "We have the same hands..
did you and your mom have the same hands?"
{or something along those lines}
Barbara is surprised at the question.
The impression is that she had never really given it thought.
In the next scene we see Barbara in her room desperately going
through boxes of pictures.
She was trying to find a picture of her mothers hands.
And she finds it.
And she discovers that they did in fact have the same hands.
I often think about that scene
and I wonder how many similarities there will be between my mother and I.
Will I have the same hands? Will my lips be her lips? Will my eyes crinkle up
at the corners as hers do?
And I can just imagine myself frantically going through piles of pictures
trying to find a picture of my mother.
{Because, if you know me, you know that I do not have a good memory.
I don't really remember what happened a couple of hours ago much less the day before.
And I most certainly do not remember details.
That's one of the reasons why I started this blog thing here.}
So I decided to take pictures of her at an outing we had together last week.
And these are my mothers hands..
A-Mode, Focal Length: 35mm, f1.8, 1/1250, ISO 500
{eating a subway sandwich}
She didn't know I was taking pictures of her.
She thought I was just adjusting the settings.
And she will not be happy if she discovers these pictures
as she is very embarrassed of her hands.
A-Mode, Focal Length: 35mm, f1.8, 1/1000, ISO 500
A-Mode, Focal Length: 35mm, f1.8, 1/1250, ISO 500
And boy, have those hands been through a lot.
They have held and comforted 7 kids and several grandchildren.
They have worked hard in the fields as a newly migrated field worker.
And they have made countless meals for her herself and children.
See those dark spots on the backs of her hands?
That is life catching up with her..
She has to go into her dermatologist once a month to have those sun spots removed.
Because there have been some skin cancer scares in the past...
and it is very scary.
A vivid reminder that this moment in life is brief but precious.
And if I can't remember the details
well then,
I'll just have to take a whole lot of pictures.
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