I can remember my Momma's hands. To me they were the most beautiful hands ever. Momma worked hard along side my Daddy, to give me and my two sisters everything they could. But the most important thing they gave us was love.

Momma's hands would be busy canning vegetables and fruits for us to eat, and give to others in need. My Momma's hands were seldom still. She would sew new dresses for us girls, clean the house, work in the yard. And when she got a job, she was a telephone operator. Sometimes she would let me spend the night with her at work. She had a cot that she could lay down on if the switchboard wasn't busy.

Back then, they had the switchboard where the operator had to plug in the number calling to the number being called. How she could remember who belonged to which number and how many rings for whom on the party lines, I don't know, but she sure did. If she was real busy, her hands would fly back and forth like two birds trying to escape from a cage!

When I was a teenager, Daddy and Momma bought a small grocery store. It was next to a large two story house, with a basement. They bought that house too. Now Momma's busy hands dusted shelves and stocked them, and rang up the groceries on an old cash register, and put things in the paper bags.

When she was at home, she would bake and cook and sew and watch after grandkids, loving each and every one of them as if they were the only kids on earth!

When I had the wreck that killed my little daughter Annette, Momma's hands jerked the phone off the wall when she received that call saying her granddaughter was dead. We had only been there at the store a short time before, had only left a couple of hours ago! This couldn't be!

Momma's hands were the ones that held mine to comfort me, when words couldn't. It was her hands that brushed my tears away as they spilled from my eyes and ran down my cheeks. It was her hands that patted my back as she held me close, loving me and hurting as badly as I was in our grief.

I miss my Mother's hands and arms. She too passed from cancer on July 9th, 1985. Now her hands are still and her voice is silent, but her memories live on in my heart.

Susan Roberts
twofamily2 @ aol.com

About Me:

My name is Susan Roberts. I am married to my second husband, the mother of 2 grown children, stepmother to 2 grown children and grandmother to 7 of the most beautiful grandkids on earth.

May your life be blessed.