Holding Hands

The other day I read an interesting article in the newspaper. It was all about holding hands. The article said that a study has shown that holding hands reduces stress. Women were especially affected – heart rates were reduced even when holding the hand of a concerned male stranger. The article went on to say that even pain was reduced when women held the hand of a man – especially one who they had a deep emotional connection to, such as a husband. I marveled aloud to my family, “Can you believe this? WOW!”

Wonder Boy’s response? “Duh Mom, that isn’t news.” Ah, the wisdom of the 11 year old.

Here I was wondering at the simple comfort of hand holding and my son was wondering what was wrong with me that I was so dazzled by this news. Okay, it DOES make sense when you think about it…. but I had not stopped to think about it. I had at times thought about how I missed the hand holding of dating… I missed having Hubby reach for my hand while we walk… I know the love is there, but 15 years of marriage later do we show it publicly? Maybe not so much… We are more so now that we started making the effort to have more dates – time with just us. Amazing how you are more demonstrative when you are not keeping the tweens from arguing with each other.

Later that day we went to church. I had forgotten about the article. My pain was pretty bad… apparently the change of season and excessive driving I’ve been doing has really caught up to me. My chronic pain in my neck, back, arms and hands can be minor or it can be major… lately pain is more than distracting.

As we sat at church listening to the reader, Wonder Boy reached out and took my hand. He held it in both of his hands. My little man warmed my hand with his and I smiled. I looked over at him and felt a surge of happiness. He knew I was in pain (my face shows it even when I don’t say it apparently). He was holding my hand because he wanted me to feel better. He held my hand through most of mass. I squeezed his hand and was so grateful that he is my child. He has such a tenderness and warmth… When you feel this much love it strengthens your faith… How can something as great as love exist by accident?

I felt so blessed to have love in my life. The love for my family and their love for me – these are not things I take for granted.

Even thinking back about this hand holding makes me feel warm and happy. I guess the study is right….

“Duh Mom.”