I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Ten perfectly acceptable minutes after touching ground, the plane taxis into the gate as it melodically beep beep beeps us a warm welcome into the Atlanta airport...G and I have been separated by a row and an aisle during the two-hour flight from Newark yet the isolating nature of those darn airplane seats kept him out of view the entire time.  Ugggghhh the captain has turned off the fasten seatbelt sign...thank you Jesus...let's get off this plane...G and I quickly become single file sheep of the obedient flock making our way to the terminal...the rain, the heat, the strollers, the grandmas...move over we have another plane to catch.... Just then in perfect slow motion harmony with my right foot stepping onto the escalator, my left hand is suspended by the 28 soul tingling nerves of G's right hand....once again, thank you Jesus.

the reach, the search, the trust, the comfort....is there a better moment than this?

I don't think any of us can say that we've ever not noticed a hand holding.  How could we? I mean we are human...our hearts are beating, our blood is flowing and our brains are buzzing...when our hand is held....boy can we feel it. I can't help but think that if the eyes are the windows to the soul, then the hands must be the doors.  We unlocked those doors when we first welcomed our babies into our lives...didn't we all slip our fingers into the tiny palms of our newborns amazed at the responsorial grip they bestowed on us? Oh my gosh....did you see that? he squeezed my finger so tight! that is amazing...here, you try...

And then the countless days of toddlerhood, hand-in-hand, are what really paints a life...those palm-on-palm, skin-to-skin moments prime and prep us for all the colorful hand-holding to come. 

Our hands reach for each other's hands for so many reasons...but mainly to communicate in a way that words cannot..to comfort a friend, to reassure a child, to offer hope and condolence, to say I am here for you...truly, holding hands whispers I believe you and I believe in you.

So close your eyes and think about the milestones, the moments that matter......your hands were not dangling free, aimless and alone.  They were nestled in the palm of another's hand...in the doorway of another's soul.

OneLove