Assignment #14 - Texture - Sense of Touch...

The most beautiful things in live cannot be

touched, or even seen.

They must be felt within the heart."

Helen Keller

There is one sense of touch that has been consistent in my life over the last 16 years:

My hand, warmly held by my husband's hand.

So many of my experiences since married has been accompanied by the clasp of his hand.

Reflecting on the first time that he held my hand, I remembered the Christmas that his folks had my family over for dinner. Steven and I had been dating for over a year but we had been very careful of our physical contact. That night, we went for a walk in the moonlight... and the extreme cold! We were standing down behind the barn, leaning on the heavy white wooden gate looking over the moonlit pasture when he asked me if he might hold my hand. :D

Then there was the first time we held hands as husband and wife.
Over the years, most of my memorable moments have been experienced with my hand in his. He held it through:

~the births of our seven babies

~visiting my mother in nursing homes

~the funerals of family and friends

~waiting for our little Sunny to come out of surgery

~quiet walks and strolls, over cups of tea

~sitting next to each other while driving - except if I am driving he insists I use both hands :)

~lying next to each other at night, visiting about the day, discussing our hopes and dreams

~and then there are those little clasps and squeezes as we pass in our day.

So much of my life is defined by that touch of his.