She crawled into our bed about four in the morning with a headache last night. She wanted me to rub her head and I happily obliged. My hands never seem to stop doing something and rubbing is one of my favorites.

We are a touchy feely bunch on my side of the family. We tend to be pretty snuggly and silly in general. My grandmother had these wonderful soothing hands. She was a nurse before she got married and I suspect she was a darn good one. She had a big laugh that could end up a snort and would envelop you in her arms. My mom too is a great snuggler and I'm lucky I never had to share her because I don't think I could have done that.

Mom suffered from migraines and as a child, I rubbed her head when she was feeling ill. She's since had a doctor figure out it was a chocolate allergy that caused them much of the time; she's always called my hands magical. I don't think it is any super ability, just an affinity for touch.

My husband wasn't a touchy guy when we got married but he's different about it now. He'll never be as goofy about it as we are but he's picked up my habit of touching randomly. He loves to have her curl up in his arms, their long lean frames so similar right now. He's gotten a lot easier to cajole into crawling back into bed in the mornings to snuggle with his girls.

My daughter craves being held, rubbed and soothed physically. And that is all she wanted last night with her aching noggin. So I rubbed her temples and we did our relaxation talk (start with your toes, then your feet, etc). I moved on to rub her neck, shoulders and back, hoping to relax her enough to put her back to sleep. She's so active and is growing so quickly these days, she is full of bumps and bruises, all legs and arms akimbo.

After a few minutes, she told me I had the best hands in the world and wanted me to rub her feet. Her voice was light and happy again - at this point she was feeling fine but was going to get all of this 4am nurturing she could get. I don't mind - at 10 years old now, I know these times are going to decrease.

She rolled over after I was done and faced me. She took her hands and rubbed my face sweetly, mimicking my earlier movements on her. It was one of the most relaxing moments I can remember. She ducked her head into the spot under my head and burrowed in. I whispered to her that it was her hands that were magic now.