mane and nail.

biologists say that one of the reason men favor long, lustrous hair on the female of the species is that it's a prime indicator of one's general health history--if your hair is long and healthy, that indicates that you have spent the better part of the last few years in a decent state of repair. as of yet, this distinction has yet to be applied to such things as finger and toenails, at least officially, but i rather feel that (in my case at least) it wouldn't be entirely far off to say that if one were to have charted the state of my toenails over the last few weeks, they'd be able to make an accurate conjecture as to the evolution of my mental and physical state.

to wit: the last few weeks have been highly stressful on several levels; as such, i have been disinclined to pay much attention to my feet. so, by the time everything came to a head last week, they were in a deplorable state of repair-ragged, discolored, pitiful. not entirely unlike my patience by then, not entirely unlike my resilience in the face of what was going on. but, as there's always some sort of turning point, the weekend saw lots of clarity and recovery on many levels--answers were made available, plans were laid, and the terrifying fog that had been overseeing so many proceedings of late finally dissipated enough to show us the paths that we could take out. the weekend also saw me having my first pedicure in months with two of my best and brightest, relaxed, happy and calm.

in short, this weekend saw my mind, like my nails, transformed from ragged and potentially hazardous to myself and others to cherry red, shiny, and well-kept.

well, okay. my mind isn't cherry red. exactly.