The View from Here

For those of you who know me, you’ll know that blue fingernail polish is pretty radical for my natural girl self (okay also MATURE girl self…at least most of the time). The reasons are many and have nothing to do with me not appreciating color.

I am a clarinetist and I don’t like when nail color distracts from what my hands are doing. I am practical; I do a lot of work with my hands, cleaning house, washing dishes, doing yard work. I am a klutz; no matter how hard I try, I seem to always smudge a nail and become totally disenchanted with the whole proposition. Sometimes the nail color might last five long minutes before I threw in the towel…or cotton ball?

Until one day at Walgreen’s.

I distinctly remember walking down the cosmetics aisle and having the colorful nail polishes catch my eye. I used to be drawn to very sedate polishes (typically clear), but I noticed two colors that I couldn’t walk away from; a blue and a charcoal. After several moments of debating with myself about the waste of money for nail polish that might possibly stay on my fingers for 24 hours at best, I put them in my basket and headed to checkout.

I’m thinking maybe there is something to this radical shift in my mani-care behavior; maybe it is change brought on by the pandemic? I mean, how can this past year not have changed us all in some way? We have lived under a veil of constant fear and worry, isolated from loved ones and normal life, pummeled with political drama. We’ve tried to be strong and sometimes we’ve given in to the tears in the darkness. We are all different now, in ways large and small. Hopefully, many of those changes are good, stretching us and helping us grow into better, more empathetic and compassionate humans. Think of the possibilities…

Along with the sadness of the pandemic came the gift of time for many of us. Not that we didn’t work hard in every way that we could, but there was more time than usual to be with our significant others, our children (human and furry), time to learn new skills, time to do things that maybe we’d put off for years- and time to paint our nails blue or any other color or anything else that makes us feel like we are coming to the end of these dark days and recognizing the mark it has all left on us. Just like winter changing into spring, opening us up into something new and beautiful.

Whatever it is, I’m going for it. I am working to see all of the ways I’ve changed, hoping they will lead me in wonderful new directions. The things that don’t work as we enter whatever the new normal will be whenever it will be will be lessons learned. All I know is that the blue nails make me feel strong and confident in a way that I’ve never felt. In fact, I’m going to consider stepping even more outside my Poppins box. I’m 57; what’s the worst that could happen? I have polish remover and cotton balls ready to go when the mood hits.

How has this past year changed you? However it has, I hope that you are able to find and keep the good. Here’s to better days ahead.