Nail Therapy, Tales from the Table

I am a Nail Technician. It’s a job, yes, but it’s also something more. I call it arts and crafts with my friends. What I really do is spend an uninterrupted hour or so making that rare connection with another human being that we don’t often make in this age of technology. I hold their hands in mine and we talk about all manner of things. They tell me their secrets, their heartaches and their joys. It’s the kind of concentrated connection that compares to midnight conversations in Denny’s with your best friends. Even though the relationship is also professional, I’m providing a skilled service and they are compensating me for said service, the time together ends up much more meaningful for me as I am so often inspired by them.

Many of my clients refer to it as Nail Therapy. They will sometimes call to schedule an appointment early just so they can come see me. Who else is that lucky? And I do mean lucky. I know plenty of people in my industry who are filled with customer frustrations. Somehow I have attracted a steady clientele of some of the most amazing women I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. A recent visit with one of them inspired me to start this blog because something she said that could have been completely overlooked stuck with me and still makes me a little teary eyed when I think about it.

She has a son in junior high and she told him recently that he needs to get his act together in school because when he graduates she will also be done with school and they can go literally anywhere he wants to go for college. Sounds like a normal mom comment right? Unless you know her whole story.

She had her first child as a very young teenager. The community we live in is still somewhat new to me so I am still learning. What I have learned so far is that the economic realities here are very harsh since the steel industry essentially left town. Also there is a racial divide here that I’ve never really experienced. So, in this community, with a child while she was still a child, this woman didn’t just finish school. She continued school and worked her way to another degree and an even better job. She’s still in school, on her way to yet another level of professional achievement. She has a home and a car and all of the little luxuries that we all want. While doing all of that, she maintained her family connections and raised two incredibly bright, articulate children who share her work ethic. So when she said to him that they could go anywhere in the country that he wanted to go for college, I was overwhelmed with the hope that statement expressed. In a world where being a young black man is constantly being redefined by politicians and the media, she centers him with the knowledge that he can go anywhere, be anything because she has shown him that possibility with her own actions.

It is not as if her life of achievement has been without heartaches and struggles, which makes her all the more remarkable. Not matter how life came at her, she got up every day and made it work for her. She refused to give in when society would largely have understood, when other people would have thrown their hands up and said it was all just too hard. She might be overwhelmed with student debt, but that money paid for more than just an education. It paid for her pride and for her success and, ultimately, for the success of her children. She may not be a famous millionaire (although if she ever had her own reality show she certainly would be), but she is a perfect example of successfully living the American dream. And I am the lucky one who gets to see her every other Saturday, to hear more of her story, to be entertained by her outrageous observations about men and work. Who could ask for a better job?