Diary of a Manicurist

Oh my beautiful friends! How many of you have stood patiently and encouragingly at my side. How I wish you could've explained to me that the remedy I was searching for was inside me all along. I have woken from my slumber. The men I allowed to parade through my life were like nails in my coffin, one by one. The final nail sealed me in nearly 4 years ago but I was not dead, no, I was not finished. I've been like a vampire struggling and clawing at the darkness though the painful metamorphosis. Now I rise. I am lovable. I am good enough. No longer am I glued to the mattress of lonely defeat. No longer am I under a mountain, as I have commanded that mountain to move by the power given to me through Jesus Christ. No longer hiding under my black cloak, I have dropped my shields of invisibility. The dark veil of tunnel vision has been whisked away to reveal a new bright day where I see the friendly gazes and approving smiles of strangers and friends. Like the seed planted undergr...

In 1990, as we were driving down a long country road in northern Indiana, I spotted a cobalt blue sofa in a driveway with a sign on it. Nearly gave myself whiplash as I jerked my neck around to get a better look. After passing it again later that day, I had to stop. Even though we didn't have our own place yet, as I was still in college, I had  to have it. I begged my grandparents to let me store it in their garage. I paid the lady $10 for it and it was mine! Everything was great until my family actually saw it. They thought it was the most ridiculous-looking piece of furniture they've ever seen. The cobalt blue fabric was faux fur, like a stuffed animal. It was extra-long with a low profile back and dark wood spindles propping up the arms. Two wood feet in the back, two rolling casters in the front. Truly the most unique piece of furniture I've ever seen from a company called Prestige in Monroe, OH. Still to this day I've never seen another one like it. The more my ...