My Thumbs or My Books
I have sacrificed my thumbs for my mind.
I have what are commonly referred to as ‘mommy thumbs’, an affliction resulting from overuse and over-stretching your thumbs.
‘Mommy’s’ are prone to this affliction through the act of reaching down to pick up toddlers; the thumb is bent back towards the wrists and the tendon from thumb to wrist is overstretched. Too much of this results in chronic tendonitis.
I have no children and have never had to spend my days repeatedly lifting toddlers… I do however read. I am partial to big heavy books that can keep me company throughout a whole month –long inter-generational sagas with characters who have me using their favourite phrases and wishing I could invite them by for dinner.
Alas, those weighty tomes have brought me grief. My poor thumbs. I can solve this problem, I know. If I choose to read books on my lightweight easy-peasy ebook reader, the thumb problem goes away, or at least subsides.
Ugh. Who wants an impersonal grey and black ebook reader? Pas moi. I want the full colour cover, complete with author photos and bios. I want to flip back to previous passages and dialogue, or re-read the opening paragraph, or study the family tree. I don’t want to ‘bookmark’ a page that maybe I will want to read again. I want to use my favourite bookmarks that I’ve had for years.
For all their supposed convenience, an ebook reader is only a shadow of the real deal. Give me paper — hard cover, soft cover, dime store, old or new; I want the sensual, physical, weighty feel, sound and smell of a genuine book.
And back to my thumbs. After decades of holding all those beautiful reads, I now have to approach introductions with extreme caution in case I am meeting an overzealous greeter with a hand shake styled to assert their alpha personality. I wince and just hope they don’t notice.
I have discovered that icing my thumbs is a very effective remedy. I’ll take it.
Thumbs up to books.
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I’ll also vote for paper copies of books — except when I travel — ebooks don’t take up space or add weight at check in!
I agree, I will resort to my e-reader when I am travelling, but I tend to choose lighter reading so I won’t get frustrated by not being able to easily flip back to previous passages.
I’m thumbs up for books too. Definite, absolute, total agreement….as someone with a house full of books should be. I didn’t know they were called “Mommy” thumbs or that you could get them from holding big books but I remember having them for the mommy reason.
You can get ‘mommy thumbs’ from any overuse in the ‘stretch’ position. Too many pickle jars would probably do it too. E-readers have their place, but there’s nothing like a real hands-on book! Or an overstuffed bookshelf.