Hands. They are there from the beginning. Tiny. Delicate. Warm. With a strength that belies their size and portends a future full of touch, warmth and promise. This is Luna Sofia – about a month old when this picture was taken and close to two months old when this blog was written. My granddaughter.

Hands. They can reflect years of wear and tear. Work, play, travel, chores, accidents and more. Evidence of love and marriage. As time goes on, they record everything. Both good health and bad. They don’t lie.

They can also be reflective of their surroundings – in this case sun light shining through a window covered with rain drops.

Hands can be used to show things. Relative size, shape and color. In this case a prehistoric pottery sherd in the Southwest. Infused with a temper which can contribute to an understanding of it’s temporal origins. Found during a long, hot hike on a mesa previously inhabited by agriculturists prior to the arrival of the Spanish.

In the image below, a younger hand (evidenced by smoother skin) holds a sea shell for photographic purposes. Maybe documenting a vacation find on a Gulf of Mexico beach.

Hands. Staged properly and in conjunction with other features in a photo they will express emotion. In the case below, bemused contemplation. On closer inspection, the hands also reflect, by themselves, a life of dedication, service and hard work. And, possibly, the thought of that pending last taste of wine…

At the end of life, hands can offer comfort, love and a sense of reassurance in those last moments. They speak to an understanding of fear, of family close by and the of coming afterlife where there will be a reunification. They were there at the beginning and are now there for the ending.