I Bit My Nails

I know you would never know that, with the claws I grow these days, but YES
I did bite my nails. In fact I was at them so much that I even got them back
far enough that the finger would bleed. Mom tried everything, and a lot of things
I wish she hadn't. When she would catch me she would paint my finders back
to the first knucle trying to get me to stop.
What makes someone do that? I have no idea, I just knew that I kept at it and
it was so harmful both to my fingers and my stomach. Needless to say my
hands were not always clean, and putting those dirty fingers into my mouth
was a silly thing to keep doing, but do it I did.
I certainly have Willetta to thank for breaking me of the habit, and it is a habit.
When or how I started I have no idea, but stopping, well that was another tale
all together. I have mentioned that Ron and Willetta started an interest in each
other when they were about 12 years old, I think. When she moved to El Monte
it cooled down, but Ron wasn't the type to give up. Every time I saw Willetta
when she was a young women, she had the loveliest LONG fingernails. I did so
admire them. When we would go out to visit, she would paint them and they
looked soooo good. I confessed to her that I sure wished I had nails like that.
Smart girl, she said: "you could have nails like that if you didn't bite them". Well
that was the truth, but my hands looked so bad, I did not believe that would be
the case. Finally one time she promised if I would stop biting my nails she would
give me a lovely Manicure Set for Christmas. WELL, that was something to
work for. So hard as it was, I worked at breaking myself of the habit. I sat on
my hands a lot of the time. I would slap them when I would find them in my
mouth. It wasn't easy, but I finally started to grow some nails. They were not
anything thing like Willetta had, but they were growing.
My parents were so happy to see me trying and encouraged me when they saw
the first sign of growth, and my struggling to let them alone. Finally when the
Christmas season came around Willetta asked to see how I was doing and she
was impressed. Well, so was I. As promised, under the Christmas tree was
the biggest and prettiest Manicure Set I had ever seen. It had a snap front that
when it was unsnapped opened to my wonder - a bottle of cuticle remover - a
bottle of nail polish remover and two bottles of nail polish. There were two orange
sticks some cotton rolls and a nail file and an emery board. WOW. I was so
excited. Willetta came and used all the things in the Set to get my nails ready
for the first coat of polish. Well, they didn't look like Willettas' nails, but they were
mine, and I was proud of them.
After that if I broke a nail, or cut them, Dad always asked me to give them to him
because he was so proud of me for having grown them so long. Everytime I break
or cut my nails now I think of how he would admire the length my nails had grown
and how long they would grow again.
Should you have the habit of biting you nails, may I suggest you set on your hands.
They don't have those lovely Manicure Sets like I yearned for, but there is something
just as rewarding, that is having hands that you can extend to anyone and know
they are the best kept hands, because you want them to look their best when you
shake hands.
Written this 3rd day of February 2009