23 September 2006
Everyone knows that with children come sacrifices.
With very small babies, the most obvious sacrifice is sleep, and I was fully expecting to make that sacrifice when J and the baby got home.
In the end, that wasn't the sacrifice I made.
Instead, my sacrifice was my pinky nail.
You see, while it's not news to anyone that I'm not a particularly girlie girl, I do like to have long fingernails.
Partly because I think my hands are particularly stubby and short and having long nails makes my fingers look longer, but mostly because 15 years ago, my piano teacher threw an epic fit at me for daring to arrive for my piano lesson with nails longer than the tips of my fingers and painted black.
She ranted at me for a good 15 minutes of my half hour lesson and refused to continue teaching me if I didn't agree to keep my nails short and never wear nail varnish in such an apalling colour again to my lessons with her.
... and so, in a somewhat pathetic fit of teenage rebellion that's never really gone away, I've had long nails ever since. Well, except for the times when I break so many of them that I have to get all scorched earth on them and start over, which is something I had to do a few weeks ago.
In the intervening weeks, they grew, in a pleasing shape and to a pleasing length, without a single breakage.
I had achieved the apotheosis of natural long fingernails.
Then my niece arrived, and needed comforting. Being her parents daugher, it was pretty predictable that the dummy just wasn't going to do it for her. That'd be way too easy.
Oh no, only the very best (carefully washed) finger would do.
Except all of mine had long nails that would doubtless injure her tiny mouth or gums, so I had a decision to make.
Something had to give, and the pinky nail drew the short straw.
I mean, what's a perfect set of nails compared to a quiet, contented (for now) baby?
Ah ... I remember having to do that. WIsh I could manage to grow my nails longer though - I just get them to a point where I start to like the look of them, and they all start breaking (drat!)
A small sacrifice for a lifetime of memories
... the online home and (not very) alter(ed)-ego of Ann McMeekin, a recently freelance Web Accessibility Consultant.
... passionate about many things, most of which will turn up on this site at some time or other.
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