little lessons...

The normal, “talk-over-your-head about things, not you, but then again, probably you” attitude that one sometimes gets at the nail salon is something I’m used to. But I go, for the joy of the massage chair, for the foot massage (which alone is worth a million bucks to me) and the fact that I’m not expected to say anything at all, if I don’t want to. I bundled myself up on a Sunday, packed my new book, The Miracle of Mindfulness , and headed down to the nail salon for a pedicure.

I sat in the big chair, rolled my pant legs up with wide cuffs so they wouldn’t wrinkle and soaked my feet while she finished up with someone else. She looked at the color I chose and I asked her if she could do a nail design on my toes. I’ve never had that done before, generally too cutesy for me… But it’s winter. My toes don’t get a lot play, so I wanted something cheery. I chose gold nail polish and I asked if she could paint a little blue bird on each big toe. She looked at me like I was crazy. “I think a little flower would be better…” she said. I nodded and started reading my book. I zoomed through 3 chapters while she wokred on my toes, (they are short chapters and I read REALLY fast) before she burst out, “I KNOW HIM!” She pointed to the tiny picture on the cover of my book of a bald man with a gentle expression and hands folded in prayer.

Thich Nhat Hanh. She told me he had come to her temple last year and that they had cooked for him. She then started calling out to the other girls who were around and telling them. “Is it a good book?” she asked. “Well, it’s about meditation and breathing and calming oneself when you are stressed. So yes, it’s very good. He is an excellent writer.” I answered. We chatted a bit more about him and other books he had written. Then she sank into quiet when the language barrier became too much.

I finished reading my book and she finished my nails. She used a tiny paint brush and carefully painted cute little pearlescent blue flowers on each of my big toes. I paid her and put on the disposable sandals and went over to the drying station. When it was time for me to leave, she stopped what she was doing, waved and gave me a sparkling smile, “Have a good day, I’ll see you soon…” I smiled back and said, “ thank you for your hard work, you did an excellent job.”

Human interactions where previously only money exchanged hands. Maybe it’s because I don’t get out much these days, but it was fun to be something different from all the other ladies in the salon. The big hair, faux tan, big rock, French tip ladies. It seems so strange all of us sitting in our big plush chairs while the girls that work there are hunched over our feet trying to beautify something that we batter into submission with expensive high heels. But, as Thich Nhat Hanh says, it is meditative to wash the dishes just for the experience of washing the dishes. I wonder if that’s how they get through their days. I can’t remember the last time I did anything, just to do it. But now, every time I see the sunny little flowers on my feet, it reminds me of that. Talk to people just to talk to them, do things just to do them. Then the outcome can only be positive.