fun party tricks

I only gave this post the title I did because the individual I encountered at dinner was such a good sport and had a great sense of humor about things. She was out with friends and just having a good time. Then I entered the picture. I was futzing with my camera trying to get a picture of my FIL and my uncooperative son. I heard my oldest son say "oh grossss" and the gaggle of people at the next table burst out laughing. One of them apologized saying "oops, I forgot there was a family eating behind me." Well little did he realize we are not the easily offended type of clan. He was taking a picture of this:


I asked the woman if I could post a picture on my blog and she was ok with it. It wasn't till I snapped the picture that I realized wait...she's lacking a digit, not double jointed like my son thought. I asked if it was a birth defect, and she said it was, and it's called ectrodactyly. She said it was genetic and other relatives had it as well. I used google and wasn't thrilled with the results, but then again, I'm hardly thrilled with anything I get from there of late.
I left her the blog address in case she wanted to see what I said. First off, I was made fun of as a kid, so I'm sure she was too, hence her apparent (and I could be totally wrong here) thick skin. Second, I was interested in any other information or stories about her unusual gift that she might be willing to share. Yes, we're usually snarky and poke fun at things. And any time we do that it's well deserved. But this was just so cool looking that I wanted to share it with our readers.