Regarding Friends and Pedicures

Today I had my first-ever pedicure. These are MY feet pictured above in a water bath. This is the most you will ever see of them--pedicure or not. Unfortunately, some poor young beautician actually had to touch them. At one point when she was man-handling them in an effort to saw off all the crust on my heels, I did a double-take at my toes. "Is that...(eyes widened in horror)...hair? On my toes?!" Nervous laugh. "Wow. It's amazing what you discover under these fluorescent lights. Did I mention that I have FOUR kids?" She did not, however, eye me with sympathy and understanding as I had hoped, as though having four kids was ample reason to neglect ones feet in such a gross manner, but instead seemed to grip me all the harder, increasing her "saw" speed.

There was a reason I submitted myself to such humiliation. My good friend Heather Wood is moving to Germany next week, so we (me and my other friend Tiffany) decided to kidnap her to go get (gulp) pedicures. Weeks in advance, this conspiracy seemed like a good idea to us. We wanted to do something fun for Heather, but what you can't see in this picture is the tumultuous rain storm outside that nearly foiled our plans (though it did, in fact, foil our hair). Nor does it show the stressful morning Heather had with movers, all the more complicated by our abduction.

Anyway, despite the odd looks the three beauticians gave us while we gabbed indiscriminately, we had our one last Hurrah! Here is Heather holding up here finished foot.

So to all those women who reside in Germany, be on the look-out for one Heather Wood, who is shortly coming your way. I have composed a list of reasons why you should nab her as a friend as soon as the opportunity presents itself:
1. She will come to your house at midnight to babysit your kids with a smile on her face while you go to the hospital to have a baby. Then while you are recovering,she will continue to babysit for the next two subsequent days.
2. When you have the flu and cannot get out of bed, she will buy you groceries.
3. She will call on a regular basis and say, "I have a big favor to ask. Can your kids come over and play today?"
4. On your birthday, she will sneak into your house and clean it...even the light fixtures.
5. She bakes awesome itty-bitty flower cookies that steal the show at baby showers.
6. She takes pictures of all the kids at school/church/etc. functions for the parents who are too lazy to bring cameras themselves, and then distributes the developed pictures accordingly afterward.
7. She calls you on the phone just to make you laugh.
8. She calls you on the phone just to let you vent.
9. She makes you feel as though she will be your friend even if you have food stuck in your teeth. In fact, if you do discover something in your teeth while in the midst of a conversation, she will--on cue--pull something disgusting out of her own teeth, just so you don't feel stupid. (Okay, that has not actually ever happened, but it is completely and utterly something she WOULD do, if the occasion ever arose.)
10. She will teach you by example how to serve others, how to nurture children, how to laugh at yourself, how to cry with your friends, how to have a good time, how to work hard and never complain, how to sound intelligent, look beautiful, and still manage to remain "likeable."
11. She will make even a rainy-day pedicure (on the most stressful day imaginable--for her, that is) a pleasant memory. One to add to the many other innumerable ones!

Thanks, Heather, for everything! Good luck in Germany. We will all miss you!