Part of my “What it’s like to…” series.
So yes, that is my hand pictured there. I scanned it, then as I looked it and noticed all the swirls of my fingerprints…well, that just couldn’t be posted up here like that. So I colored over it in green. Works for me. Take a look at that pinky finger and see how it bends inward at the top? The one on my left hand does that too, only not quite as much. I figured I would write a little on what it was like to grow up with bent pinkies.
It may seem like a strange topic but for me it’s just an odd little fact of life. It’s a genetic thing. My dad has them. His father had them too. I am not sure who else or even why it happens. Strange alien mutation? Maybe a step in genetic mutations that will lead to people having six fingers some day? Who knows?
For the most part, I rarely notice them. As a child it would come up in art classes when I had to trace my hand. We would often cut out the shape of our hand to create weird little turkeys for Thanksgiving or some other crafty project. Usually I would get a comment that I traced my hand wrong and screwed up the pinky. Then I would hold up my hand and show that I had in fact used my crayon to trace correctly. Go me. :P
It would also come up in math lessons when we had to measure our fingers. Strangely enough my teachers liked us to measure our pinkies. I had problems because I would have to shift the ruler mid-measurement. My teachers would just shake their head and say, “Do the best you can.”
As I got older I ran into some trouble when I played piano since my hands wouldn’t span over an octave like my piano teacher wanted. My right pinky would clip the one key to the left and you’d hear a little *ping* as it hit. I think if I worked at it I could have gotten over that, but the music thing didn’t stick with me as is. I’m great at listening to it though!
Since then though I usually forget I have the bent pinky quirk unless someone asks, “What did you do to your hand?” If I’m in a punchy mood you just may get a response like, “Oh, it’s a mark of my Plutonian race is all.” Hey, if we can’t have fun with genetic oddities then what’s the point, eh?
Until next time…
[...] been getting a lot of messages lately from kids and parents who have read this post. The biggest points made are about being made fun of by other kids and parents considering cosmetic [...]
I have the exact same thing with my pinkies. It’s worse in my right than my left-just like you! I am a piano major at West Chester University! So there is proof that you can still play well despite it! Although sometimes they do ache because of how much I use them..
Good luck! Bent pinkies unite!