Gratitude Practice 2023 Nov 5: Pop Up Kitchen Counter Nail Salon

One of the mega perks of my mothering adventure is the bi-monthly pop up nail salon at my kitchen counter. Who would have thought that the modest collection of random nail polish I've gathered over the years would be such a treasure to my favorite gaggle of little girls. It's a Rubbermaid shoe box of endless possibilities and I absolutely love it. The ritual begins with a clear observation of chippy fingers and then a sincere plea for a clip, trim, file and fresh coat complete with some jumping and chanting and an expected amount of little girl begging. The answer is always yes.

.Next, their excited hands carefully remove the tiny glass bottles, arrange them in rainbow order (because we have standards) and finally inspect each color considering a variety of colorway options. Lots of talk and even more decisions…should we keep to one color this time or go full salon powerhouse and select 10 unique and complementary colors? Is it a night for a glitter topper? Or just a clear top coat? This conversation can go on for far longer than you may expect. Once final decisions are made we commence with the removal of the old polish, the clipping, the filing and the shaping and then it's time for the big show. One of them will ask Google to play only the best little girl pop playlist and we begin. Each tiny finger receives its appropriate time and attention all the while we discuss the latest little girl happenings and usually using silly accents. I ask a series of absurd questions and they respond with equally absurd answers. In this, I feel it's my duty to adequately prepare them for future salon small talk and I gain critical kid intel as we engage in elementary school conversations. Somewhere in the process and usually around tiny finger number seven one of them will decide their color selection is all wrong for their mood or for the season and we must reboot and begin again. And so we do because no woman no matter her age or station in life should endure a bad mani..again, we have standards. With that…we have two rules at my kitchen counter salon…you may only change your color choice one time per visit…and no mean talk only kind words aloud. Once all fingers have been refreshed we take turns "ooo-ing and awe-ing" over each other's choices and they giggle and laugh and sing loudly and talk until everything is sparkling and dry.

.This process. With these tiny girls and their tiny fingers fills me up every single time. I love that they ask. I love how we play. I love watching them giggle and laugh and labor over color choices and learn how to both engage in a feminine rite of passage AND practice loving on each other. I'm grateful for this silly ritual and for this season when I'm cool enough to hang. I'm real that in time my role of kitchen counter amateur nail technician will one day morph to simply a nail polish distributor as they will soon take my box of curated polish and find teenage bestie solace together behind closed doors. Hoping that by then they will have learned enough of the basics (both nail care and human care) to keep these little girl nails pretty and more importantly keep friendship bonds strong. Grateful to be a part of this silly camouflaged nail polish process. Grateful for this sacred season of mothering and mentoring. Grateful for their trust, for what they are sharing, for what they are asking and for all they are teaching me. And forever grateful for the soul saving power of a shiny glitter-y topcoat…it's absolutely critical to our overall success.