"Hands.. "

"Dad, your guiding hand on my shoulder will remain with me forever."

Have you ever noticed the older we get..the more mature and grown up we get...that certain songs that you have heard all of your life..suddenly take on a whole new meaning?? It's like your listening to the song for the first time..because although you have heard this song a million times...you find yourself relating to it more and more..you understand the words..you feel the words...you start to sing the words..and the words speak to your heart..

Wednesday night as Travis and I were driving home from my parents house..where my belly was full of my dad's grilled hamburgers...potato salad...and the best homemade German Chocolate cake I have ever put in my mouth...the song "Daddy's Hands" came on the radio. Now I have always hated this song...Don't ask me why..Old country music has really never been a popular choice of music with me..my husband is a country boy at heart..so I have to suffer through it quite often...I was staring out the window when this song came on...I started listening to the words..I mean really listening... 

"You could read quite a story in the callouses and lines.. years of work and worry had left their mark behind".. was the lyric I heard when I started to pay attention to the song....My dad's hands...let me tell you about my daddy's hands...they are rough..calloused...cut..bruised...and they are not pretty by any means...Those hands have worked 2 and 3 jobs to provide for his family...those hands have sold countless tools..cars..and anything he could get his hands on just to buy Christmas for his 4 kids...Those hands have lovingly held grandchildren, nieces and nephews...those hands have held me up when I thought I was going to fall..those hands have pushed me when I didnt think I could go any farther...those hands have diciplined me when I was learning right from wrong...those hands have helped steady my shaking and sweaty hands down the isle as I was walking toward my future husband...Those hands have held my hands as he looked in my eyes and told me he believed in me....and its those same hands that I think of as I listened to that song...

"I remember Daddy's hands working til they bled...Sacrificed unselfishly just to keep us all fed.. If I could do things over I'd live my life again and never take for granted the love in Daddy's hands.." When I was younger..I resented the fact that my dad worked so much...I realize now that he wasnt working so much because he wanted to..he was working to give his family what he thought they deserved..a better life that what he had growing up...He has worked in the rain..freezing temperatures..scorching heat...doing odd and end jobs...just to buy that birthday present that us kids wanted..or so we could take a last minute trip to the beach...Those hands represent a man...a man that has taught his children to love..to work hard...to never give up...and to always strive for something more...I only hope that as my own son grows older..he looks at his daddy's hands the way I look at my daddy's hands...

Yes...those hands are rough and calloused...and sometimes ache...but the next time I look at my dad's hands...I won't see that...I will see the most loving pair of hands that hold a lifetime of memories...

I love you daddy.. :)