A Body At Rest

Remember ninth grade Physics? A body in motion tends to stay in motion (unless acted upon by an equal opposite force).

Today, the equal opposite force was a pedicure.

I finally realized that the reason moms over schedule is not because they want credit for do, do, doing, but instead because they don't want to fall asleep. If you are moving from one item on the to-do list to another with no stopping, it's not because you can cash in at the end of the day for some award, it's because if you sit down, you're as good as out of the game. And we all know, a body at rest stays at rest.

Every 6 weeks I have it on my calendar. Every sixth Saturday, in black letters, like a light at the end of a very busy tunnel, PEDICURE. I go to the cheapy $25 joint in my neighborhood. I usually get the guy who takes to my callouses with a sandpaper while no doubt imagining that he is sanding the deck. I chant to myself, "this is supposed to be relaxing" while he "massages" my tender little piggies (or rather treats my feet like he's shuffling a deck of cards). It is 40 minutes of peace and quiet. I read a book, check facebook, tweet a little, mindlessly watch the Gameshow Network on their big screen TV, anything but respond the word "mommy." And sure enough, at some point during the experience, I find my eyelids drooping. A body at rest, stays at rest.

This particular Saturday, the strangers in the chairs around me included a mother in the final stages of pregnancy and another mother who had just gotten some good news from her child via cell phone and signed off just in time to have a lovely shade of blue applied to her toes. Sure enough, 30 minutes in, I looked to each side to notice that we were all practicing the same head bob. The one that means that we stopped for a moment.

A body in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted on by an equal opposite force. Or a pedicure.

It was delightful.