Hand Modeling

When I was little, it seemed like there was far more hand modeling than there is today. All of those ladies on the Price is Right swooping their hands and slender arms over and around and in the general vicinity of all of the amazing prizes in the showcases. A full living room suite [*hand flourish* at corner of showcase, then limbs skimming like agitated birds over coffee table top, the edge of a television set entrapped inside of a giant piece of furniture, alighting for just a moment on the back of the easy chair, then tripping along the back of a couch until the hostess perched cheerfully on the arm rest looking anything but right at home.]

Plus, disembodied hands showed up a lot more in commercials for jewelry, for Neet, for moisturizers, cars and on and on. Something about a long slender hand--the kind you imagine might be attached to someone who looks like Betty Draper--that made products fly out of the stores in the 70's and early 80's. Not so much now. Maybe because we're allowed to show so much more now on TV, the staid hand couldn't hope to pique anyone's interest in the way it used to.

But my childhood was filled with my brother and I mimicking those hand and arm movements. My parents bought a new VW bus, my brother swoops into the picture brushing his arm the length of the racing stripe down the side and finishing with a hand framing flourish around the VW insignia at the front of the van to family applause. We finally, at long last, years after all of our friends have gotten one, get a color TV, which I do a short spinning dance in front of and then lunge to the side with my arms lagging behind, framing the 16" TV screen with happy little jazz hands. It could be joyful. It could be sarcastic. It could be mean. But those movements we learned from glamorous, besequined women were a meaningful part of the anatomy of hand motions in my household growing up.

My mom was here visiting this last week while I recovered from surgery. But for one walk a day, I wasn't allowed to leave the house. So, we read and watched movies and talked and cooked, and I asked her to be my model for a load of mitts I have made to sell on Etsy. Bona fide hand modeling. . . and in the midst of it, she brought out some of the old moves we used when I was a kid.

It was one of the many reasons it was nice to have her here this last week and I miss her still.

Is that a mug?!?
That's a great mug!

Holy Cow! Frank Lloyd Wright was really talented!!

Flowers are so pretty! Oh man, did you see how pretty those were?

Nicely done, Mom. Nicely done.