Applying the Polishing Touch

For most of my life, I have never painted my fingernails. I've never had a manicure or pedicure. As a gardener, I'd just ruin it and as a nurse, it just wasn't allowed. Not to mention, it just felt weird to do. It just wasn't what a Mennonite girl did when I was growing up. Painting your nails was right up there with dancing, wearing make-up (or as Dad would say, "rouge") and wearing jewelry. So for most of my life, other than the few occasions that my little girls would paint my fingernails, they have been "au naturel"

My toes? They get a seasonal color when I feel like it. No one really sees my toes much. Well, except that one time I was helping an artist and dressed like an Amish mama picking berries with her small children. The gentleman at whose property we were picking berries at really thought I was Amish. I don't speak much Pennsylvania Dutch so I thought that would be a give-away, but instead it was the mossy green painted toenails.

During the month of training in Baltimore for the new job I am in, I decided to paint my fingernails. Somehow, it made me feel bold. More confident. But it was more than that. You see, when I would be in my hotel room in the evening, I could sit and paint them and then I'd have to hold still and be patient while they dried properly; otherwise, I'd end up with a wrinkly finish and marred nails.

I do not do "patient" very well. Not at all.

But for this, to get a smooth, shiny finish, I had to hold still. I had to wait. The results were worth it.
Not just in the red, gray, blue or brown finished nail, but in my thoughts. Instead of constant frantic movement and chaos, my thoughts slowed too and throughout the nail painting process, I found relaxation and calmness.

Is painting my nails necessary for those things to happen? No. But it was a nice surprise and it was an easy, inexpensive way to treat myself to something fun. Another benefit? I stopped picking and chewing at my fingernails which I tend to do when I'm bored or anxious about something. After a month of training, my nails looked better than they ever had.

I'm still a gardener but right now, it's winter. I'm still a nurse, but my role has changed and the polish is allowed. Maybe, as I polish (Definition: a substance used to give something a smooth and shiny surface..) I can polish ( Definition: refinement or elegance in a person or thing) some other areas in my life. 

Like that little thing "patience".  

Tonight, I am curled up on the couch watching Holiday Inn with Heather and I think a little red is just the thing. It sure beats running about the house cleaning or doing "just one more thing".