Polishing up the Daddy Skills

Dark purple. More exactly it's Plaza Plumberry from New York Color. Yes, that is my nail. No, I'm not going goth one nail at a time. Yes, it was a whim. No, it didn't spread beyond the one nail. I only kept the color on for a few days only removing it when my doctor expressed some alarm with either a) I had smashed my finger in a door or b) I had melanoma in my nail bed. It never occurred to him that it was just nail polish. Would you expect a man looking squarely down the barrel of 52 to wear nail polish on one finger who isn't in a rock band? Yeah, he didn't either.

A few weekends ago, Riley was stuck inside and bored. It had been raining for eons and it was cold outside. We had played board games (or is that bored?) and watched several movies. She was done with all that and asked for me to paint her nails. In several colors - one per nail. I said no and compromised by painting all her nails with three colors layering pink then purple and then topped them off with a clear coat with sparkles. In between coats I thought I'd have some fun and paint one of mine with the purple. (I've already experienced the clear with sparkles while on a beach vacation - too many margaritas. Different story for a different day.)

Riley thought it was hilarious that a boy would have nail polish on even if it was just one finger. When I asked her if she liked it she said no, that boys aren't supposed to wear polish and to take it off. I told her teasingly that I liked it. "Dad! You have to take it off. You work people make fun of you." Well that stopped me right in my tracks. Is this what our daughter was really concerned about? That I would be made fun of? Now it's a life lesson.

"Oh sweetie. The people I work with aren't going to laugh at me. They're my friends. Friends don't make fun of each other."
"Dad! They gonna laugh at you!"
"No honey, they won't."
"Daddy! You have to take off the polish!"

Keep in mind that she is laughing the entire time, rolling her eyes and generally just thinking how silly I am. But Riley is adamant that she doesn't want anyone to make fun of me. I had to reassure her that people wouldn't laugh and that if they did it didn't bother me. It was their issue to deal with.

That was not entirely true.

Part of me was a bit worried about walking into work the next day with one dark purple nail. Then I realized that I had a doctor's appointment right after work - in fact I had to leave work a little early and wouldn't have  time to stop by home and remove it. Anxiety set in. I debated removing it after Riley went to bed. I couldn't do it though - I really felt like I needed to show her that it's okay to be your own person, do your own thing,  and not worry (too much) about what other people think.

I awoke the next day thinking what are people at work going to think? Will anybody say anything? What am I going to tell them. I decided to make an experiment with it and just go about my business to see what reactions I got. Challenge the people I work with and just go about my day. Honestly it was really difficult at first and I kept catching myself curling that hand under so people wouldn't be able to see the purple nail. Then something happened. Or rather nothing happened. It got closer and closer for me to leave and no one said anything. So I did what any attention monger would do and started pointing it out while relaying Riley's concerns and how I felt it was an important lesson to teach her. I would say that it was also an important lesson for me to learn, but I am the one who bleached his hair platinum blond 13 years ago just to see how it looked.