I can’t help but wonder how much of my self-consciousness would be decreased if my hand was different — if it was simply a smaller hand, not a deformed one.  I know that many with PS have five full digits that are a smaller version of their “good hand.”  I suspect that is a rather different experience than missing digits and having a hand that doesn’t look anything like a hand.

These past three days my kids and I were at an event called Practicum.  We are a homeschooling family and we use a curriculum called Classical Conversations.  Each summer they hold training sessions for the parents and offer classes for the children.  So for three days we pretended like we were a regular ole family and we “went to school” for three days.

Upon checking in each day the parent and children were all given a colored arm-band.  It matched each parent to their own child and prevented another parent from signing out a child that did not belong to them.  It was comforting to know that no one would be able to walk away with my kid, although I didn’t have the slightest fear of that happening.

Anyway, the glue on these arm bands seemed industrial strength and they took some work to get off each day.  Since I don’t travel around with a scissor on my person at all times, I couldn’t cut the band off (well, I suppose I could have waited until I got home, but it was an hour drive and well, quite honestly, I’m impatient).

A friend drive so I was sitting in shot-gun, messing with my band, finally freeing myself.  Upon seeing my freedom, she thrust her arm towards me indicating she too wanted to be freed from the arm-band.

Ugh.  This is a two-handed procedure.  I did it on me with only one hand, but since I was helping someone else, it made no logical sense to not use both hands.  But using both hands meant using my PS hand.

I succeeded in the mission.  And while it took twice as long as it did on me (so all of 15 seconds instead of 7), and she didn’t flinch.

Surely she knows of my hand.  And whether or not that was at all on her mind when she asked me to help, I don’t know, but I doubt it.  However, did she remember at any point during those long 15 seconds?  When it was taking longer on her than it did on me, did she recall my hand and regret asking?

I doubt that too.  But I’m prone to over analyze everything, and those were the questions going through my own mind that I share now with you.

So while I’m fairly sure that my hand never crossed my friend’s mind, it never left mine until I was done.

Just another reminder for me that PS follows me everywhere.