Julia Sims: Father and son

I’ve read that you can tell a lot about a person’s character by looking at their hands. I’d never given that much thought until now.

My husband Mike went home to Statesville last week, and his mother gave him a paper he wrote when he was younger. It was simply titled “My Dad.”

In it he wrote: “He uses his hands to do rough jobs such as cut wood. But those hands are always there, so soft, to ease the pain. I can recall when I was little, every time I would wreck my bike, my dad would be there to pick me up and help me get started again.”

The words struck me. Mike was writing about his father, but he could have easily been describing his future self.

Ask anyone who knows Mike and they’ll tell you he can build or make anything with his hands. Over the years, he’s had Will in the basement teaching him to make jewelry, a musical instrument and so much more. Those hands, which are used to guide Will in a woodworking project, are the same hands that are used to clean off a scrape and apply a bandage or smooth our son’s hair back when he’s not feeling well.

Mike’s grade school paper about his dad went on to say: “My dad has used his hands to carve my brother and I into well-mannered young men... I feel very fortunate to have a dad like I do.”

I never knew my husband’s father. He died when Mike was in college. But, like a treasured family heirloom that’s passed down generation to generation, Mike clearly inherited his father’s kindness and gentle touch. I see it everyday in his hands.