Pain… pure, excruciating pain.

I did something this week that I have never done before… I had nails “put on”. I remember vivid as day sitting down to start my piano lessons on Mrs. Keller’s baby grand piano bench as a young child. The inspection would start. “Are your nails long today?”… The answer was often yes, and I would cut them before we started our 45 minutes of scales, arpeggios, chord progressions, and performance with my hands able to stay in perfect rounded form, nail tips pointing down towards the keys. So, after forming the habit over 20 years of clipping my nails short, I realized this week that I wanted to have presentable short length “pretty” nails. Did you know how confusing simple little nails are??!?! Acrylic? Gel? Pink and white? Tips? Color? French?... my eyes practically welled up with tears when the manicurist asked me which option I wanted. Her thick accent was not a factor- it was these American words that were foreign. So I did what any 23 year old would do… I wanted my mommy. Fortunately, with the advice of my mom, I additionally gathered advice from my Sweetheart sisters at what to choose, my friends, her friends’ ideas, and anyone who was willing to share their input. I confidently marched back into the salon the next day knowing exactly what to say, yet speaking with slight meaningless understanding… I still had no idea what to expect. Well, what all of my little darlings may have forgotten to disclose was how painful getting nails is. Now, the process isn’t that bad, I might describe it as uncomfortable if you are not used to it, but it is the after effects that kill. There was a part of the day that I kind of just wanted to cut my fingertips off. I thought it probably would have felt a little nicer. But there is light at the end of the tunnel for my fellow never-had-nails readers who may be considering the plunge (okay, so what if I am probably less than ½% of the American population over the age of 15… I know someone else is out there). The good news is the pain subsides. For the most part. Ask me again next week… the other good news is I have 3 weeks to take these puppies off if they don’t work out. There’s nothing like planning ahead!