SOL4...Painting my Nails

Painting my Nail This Morning...

     Tomorrow afternoon I'm meeting some of my friends for lunch, which means today I need to paint my nails. Now, you might be asking why would I to do it more than 24 hours in advance? It's a valid question. In short, I am horrible at putting on nail polish. I put all nail polish aficionados to shame. When I am done, my nails are painted, but so is half my hand. No joke. It looks like a five year old painted them for me wearing a blindfold. I also usually don't go back and clean them up afterwards either, getting rid of all the extra nail polish. I usually just wait a few days for it to come off on its own through showers or washing hands. Because of these reasons, it's necessary to do them well ahead of any major events so as few people as possible can witness it.

     I pulled my container of nail polish down out of the bathroom closet. Over the years, I've accumulated more nail polish than I know what to do with, but I can't convince myself to get rid of any of them. I sat on the floor in the hallway with Charlie and browsed the different colors, would it be pink today? Or blue? or red? I pushed a handful aside to see more colors and found a dark green I liked. It reminded me of being lost deep in a forest, greenery all around me, the sunny sky shaded by large tree branches covered with lush leaves. This was definitely the color I wanted to wear today.

     I found my OPI Nail Strengthener and put it next to the Essie green nail polish. Last I dug around until I found my OPI Top Coat to put on when I was done. This was another reason I needed to do my nails well ahead of time. I was not someone who could throw on nail polish and then leave the house 20 minutes later. I needed hours (and I mean hours) to do each coat, to let each coat dry. It was a process. A long, drawn out, exhausting process. Yet, I always looked forward to doing my nails. It was a peaceful moment, a moment of tranquility. 

     Charlie watched as I slowly applied the nail strengthener first. This was an easy step. It went on clear and dried relatively quickly. I'd only need about 10 minutes for this coat to dry. Next I slowly started applying the Essie green nail polish. I always tried, I really did, to stay on my nails. I never purposely got it on my hands, but somehow no matter how hard I tried, it always happened. The first nail always seemed to come out perfect. I smiled looking at it, good start. Yet right away on the second nail my first stroke spread a huge glob onto my hand. And so it begins...my next three nails all included large globs on my fingers. I'd given up trying to keep it on my nails now. It was a pointless effort. 

     Finally, I finished all ten nails and stared at them for several seconds, inspecting each one. I turned the flashlight on my phone to look closer. Did any of them need another coat? It didn't look like it, and despite having nail polish all over my fingers, I smiled. Job well done. I closed the nail polish and sat back. Charlie looked at me hopefully. "No, not yet. I can't move for a while still." As if he understood he put his head back down and closed his eyes. That was reassuring. Now, I just needed to find something to occupy my time for the next hour or so while I sat not moving, not touching anything. At first I thought I'd turn on a show, but then realized I had my book on the table. As long as I was careful turning the pages, I should be able to relax and read. 

     I gently picked the book up off the table and got myself settled on the couch. I flipped the book over looking for a bookmark. I didn't see it but I swore I'd used one yesterday. I very delicately opened the book and flipped to the general area I thought I'd left off on yesterday. After a few minutes of searching, I found a tiny slip of paper, no bigger than a dime, stuck in between two pages. My rational brain screamed, Don't touch it! It's too tiny! Just leave it until your nails are dry enough. However, my irrational brain screamed, You're not on that page anymore, you can't just leave it there!  The irrational brain won. I tried to ignore it, but now that I knew the bookmark was there, I couldn't just leave it. 

     I opened the book as wide as I could, trying to shake out the paper on its own. No such luck. As I viscously shook the book trying to dislodge the paper, I berated myself for not only insisting I get the bookmark out now, but for using such a small bookmark to begin with. What was I thinking?!?! Frustrated, I finally decided I had to pick it up myself, it wouldn't come out any other way. I slowly, so, so slowly, moved one finger toward the bookmark. I imagined it like in the movies disengaging a bomb, having sweat running down my forehead as someone next to me gently patted the sweat away with a white cloth. This was a critical moment.

     I had my finger on the paper and was gently pulling it toward me, away from the book. Just as I had it though, my grip on the book slipped ever so slightly. Just an inch, that's all it moved, and that inch was enough to close the book on three of my fingers currently on the page. I gasped and quickly opened the book to assess the damage. All three nails had been smudged. Smudged so much I couldn't just cover it with one more quick layer, I had to actually restart all three of them. I looked toward Charlie sadly, "How does this always happen?" He didn't even open his eyes. He knew it always happened. I got up to go hunt down my nail polish and start the process all over again.