Round Robin Challenge "Labor"

It's Round Robin time again ... and as always I think a lot about what I want to post for each challange long before posting time might come along. I like it when my photo means something for me, and I like the photo to have really been a challenge.

This week the topic was "Labor" and was chosen by Robby of "Robbie's Ruminations" . I had a hard time at first, but ended up realy enjoying this challenge. As always, I am gonna tell ya why. :)

Have you ever noticed how the things we love leave marks on us? The calloused fingers of a guitarist, blisters on the soles of a runners feet, stretch marks on the belly of a mother, and even those tiny creases left over from a life of joy which we call "laugh lines". Our pleasures often leave evidence of their existence.
My father has endured a lifetime of hard work and hard times, a lifetime which has left evidence of it's own in it's wake. Swollen, painful joints and a rash of scars are part of who my father is these days. But his hands are a wholly different matter.

My father has made and sold pottery for more than thirty years now. His fingers are knobby and stiff, his palms covered in callouses, the skin thickened and stained from contact with the molds and clays. Yet what his hands proclaim is that my father has worked more than thirty years doing something he has loved.

Though he doesn't write, draw, or wield a camera as I do, my father and I share a deep love for creating. My father expresses his romance through the business he's built, through each piece of pottery he turns out. Sure, he grumbles now and then ... but the truth is that he couldn't walk away from it if he tried. For though it is a career, a job, a living ... it is also a labor of love.

Which is why I chose this photo of my fathers hands to represent my entry for this weeks Round Robin Challenge.