by Laurie Paternoster<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe hand is the visible part of the brain.\u201d Immanuel Kant<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mother\u2019s were accomplished, chubby and speckled with marks of age she called honor.<\/p>\n Dad\u2019s were long and lean, fingers once caressed softballs in seven world tournaments.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n My teen-aged niece didn\u2019t mean to<\/em>.<\/p>\n Haley ducked into her bathroom before school; found sprawled, abandoned strap, the needle<\/p>\n resting like an old friend in her lifeless, outstretched hand.<\/p>\n Brother Jim yearned for release<\/em>.<\/p>\n In lonely hours, he dragged a revolver from underneath his pillow. A solitary tear marked his<\/p>\n cheek before the bullet ripped through his brain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Our hands were helpless then,<\/p>\n useless appendages hanging limply at our sides.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n My son\u2019s stretch over miles of mountains and forested hikes to steady my path.<\/p>\n Vivid fingernails flicker as my daughter\u2019s lure me into carefree adventure.<\/p>\n Pudgy softness of a grandson\u2019s finger explores my face, tracing creases with concern.<\/p>\n My husband\u2019s are scarred and battered, yearning still to create things anew.<\/p>\n My own are practiced, too often writing glowing fictional histories to comfort the mourning,<\/p>\n desperate to find hope in black and white, meaning in color.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The visible part of the brain.<\/p>\n Gazing at my models of aging weariness, I wonder.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Laurie Paternoster is a former reporter for five daily newspapers, including the\u00a0Denver Post<\/em>,\u00a0and an editor for the\u00a0Denver Business Journal<\/em>. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of\u00a0Missouri\u00a0and will complete a Master of Arts degree in Professional Creative Writing at the University of Denver in 2023. Laurie lives in Cuenca, Ecuador where she writes creative nonfiction, personal essays and poetry, while making time to hike the Andes, rides horses and breathe clean air.<\/p>\n
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