Deep Bruises and a PediCure

It's always the ones you least expect that hurt the most.  Sometimes you'll just be cruising along,  pedaling your heart out, feeling the groove, cutting through the day like a wavy carrot slicer and

WHAMO, BIFF, BOOM, BANG

you're on the ground wondering how your super sonic senses didn't see that tree. 

But this post really isn't about riding a bike, hitting a tree and getting hurt, it's about toenail polish and it's staying power.  Seriously.  I'm not the girl to get regular pedicures so it might not surprise you that one day I looked down and realized my ruby red toenail polish had begun to chip, badly in fact, becoming unsightly.  How did I let it get like this?

I was focused.  I was in the woods moving and grooving, going somewhere... FAST... pedal, pedal, pedal... REALLY FAST... ewe, look at those toes... pedal, pedal, pedal... TOO FAST... ahh, I'll get to it, open toe season is over... pedal, pedal, pedal... SMACK!

While I was looking down at my toes I hit a tree, a BIG tree, like a 200 year old Oak with a trunk the size of a house, smacked it like a bug on a windshield.  It would seem my super sonic senses didn't see it coming, or did they?  I guess sometimes there's no avoiding the tree.  And sometimes hitting the tree and getting banged up is better than the trail that lies ahead.  You may be asking "but what kind of an idiot wears open toed shoes mountain biking?"

So it is, and these are my toes with the reminder of the ruby red polish, faded and almost non-existent.  Today, I'll remove it.  It's time.  This poor polish has seen enough, it's time for a new color.


This polish has seen the demise of a four year relationship, the trials of splitting up a home and a business, job search and relocation, saying goodbye to the best thing I had ever helped build, my hometown, my friends, my family, the loss of a pet, a juicer, and a little bit of faith, a week and a half of close quarters with my father, a painful snowboarding accident and an even more painful haircut.  In the words of the Horse from Ren and Stimpy, "No Sir, don't like it."

This polish has also seen a short, steamy soul shaking love affair although inherently terminal, it's seen the power that comes from knowing that none of these things are any match for my strength, for my resourcefulness, for my creativity, for my ambition, for the love and support of my friends and family, the making of new friends and the relighting of a brilliantly burning happiness that has been dimmed for way, way too long. 

And the best part of the story is the bandages.  Ha, ha, I may be the only person to manage losing a pint of blood by nicking my toe during a pedicure... and sometimes the worst wounds are self inflicted.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.