These are gardening hands. They come in the Summer and persist until the snow falls. Normally I’m a little embarrassed about the black that I can’t scrub out of the lines in my hands and when I realize there’s dirt under my nails if I’m out and about...but today I’m looking at my hands with a sense of accomplishment.
Our family enjoys a clean and tidy house. Though I’m not the most stellar housekeeper all the time, I see the value of a clean household and as moms, we put our effort into this again and again....and again...like every day (well, maybe at least we TRY to every day) . When a room is clean it’s comfy and attractive and we all naturally gravitate to that spot; less stress and more peaceful. I’ve been deep-cleaning inside, so my hands have been dry. In the Winter I can lotion-it-up and mask it as long as there’s no pealing nail polish showing... but in the Summer those dry cracks are stained.
So I’ve been in the garden, working in the black soil, staining all those dry lines and pulling weeds - giving my index finger a yellow-green hue (SO attractive... ). There are little cuts all over my hands from baby finger nails I have to clip and because I REALLY need to go to town and purchase some work gloves. I love that every drop of sweat into my garden brings me beautiful flowers to gaze at in the early morning, coffee in hand and sunrise beyond them in the distance. I’m so grateful for the large space in my back yard to take care of a veggie garden that will show its rewards while we graze in the Summer, harvest in the Fall, and enjoy preserves all Winter long.
These are my working hands: they could be prettier, but in this moment they are my trademark of a good day’s work & evidence of taking care of my fam.