Wednesday, December 08, 2010

I am Different

#Reverb10ing about being different today.

I’m so glad I’m past the point in my life were being different was a bad thing and I’m to the point now where I embrace my different-ness. Like the fact that I wish I were a ninja, and that I like to read sci-fi/fantasy books and mushy romance novels. I like to eat frosting out of the container with a spoon and I wish I could take a bath in fruit snacks. Yeah, I said it.

But I’ve decided to dedicate this post about being different - to my thumbs.

I have crazy thumbs.

My thumbs are like bobble heads. They are little round balls stuck on the end of toothpick appendages. People laugh at them. I laugh at them. They are cumbersome and a little annoying because they are too wide for Lee Press-On Nails. I can’t text without adding a gazillion extra letters. I could never fit them into the holes of safety scissors as a child. Gloves are an issue. So are rings.

But nobody, and I mean NOBODY can rock a back massage like I can. Need to use the elevator? I can push buttons like nobody’s business.

I inherited by thumblies from my Grandma Stewart. She called them Cherokee thumbs. We talked about our thumbs nearly every time we saw each other. Over the years I’ve met two other people with thumbs like mine and the actress, Megan Fox (Transformers) also has them.


Megan Fox and her thumbs


While researching Megan’s thumbs, I discovered something fascinating in wikipedia (which is the undisputed authority on everything factual...) They are actually called “clubbed thumbs."

“A clubbed thumb is a term used to describe the genetic clubbing of one or both thumbs. It is characterized by a particularly short thumb that is round in section and bulbous at the end. The thumb nail is very wide and short.

Clubbed thumbs were historically thought of as a sign of royalty. This rare condition was much more common in royal European blood-lines than in the general population and was used as a factor in determining the pureness of the blood.”


As the unofficial family historian, I have verified that our family, is in fact, descended from a European royal line as well as the Knights of Bath.

Now I have absolute, physical PROOF. So, like, thumbs up.


My thumb

3 comments:

Thompson Family said...

I'm giving this a HUGE thumbs up!!! :-)

Cheri-Beri said...

You've met three people with thumbs like yours - ME!!!! When Tyler and I were first dating, I told him I had a birth defect and had toes where my thumbs should be. He believed me for about 4 seconds. Have you seen the episode of Seinfeld were George says maybe Jerry's girl friend was in a farm accident and they had to sew her big toes on to where her thumbs were? I think he even called it "toe thumbs." Tyler calls me that all the time. Amber has the same thumbs. Although I have NO idea where mine come from. The texting thing sucks. I just got a phone with a touch screen. My texting is AWFUL on it!

bizandsteve said...

Grandma's thumbs were one of my favorite things about her. I kind of half got them. They bend back pretty far but don't have the cool wide bit at the tip that hers did. Nice to know its a sign of royalty:)