chipped nails

i used to be embarrassed over chipped nails.
i remember taking off my nail polish and repainting them while driving myself to school in high school.
dad and sandie are sighing right about now.
makes texting while driving not seem so bad, lol.
how do teenagers survive until 18????
maybe it's the sparkle.
maybe it's the christmas red.
but i find my chipped nails charming today.
like the little lines i've noticed around my eyes and next to my smile.
they remind me of the scout master's knots on his scout shirt.
i sewed them on.
along with all of his other patches.
only to find out i will have to pick them out and re-sew them in a different order as he gains new patches.
the organization of the scout shirt patches was obviously not decided by a woman.
and most definitely not by the people who are actually sewing the patches on the scout shirts.
if it had, they would be added on and left right there.
not added on, picked out, and re-sewn 2 inches to the left 3 months later to make room for the next advancement.
the sewing is fun, but really, efficiency people.
efficiency.
so these lines around my eyes and next to my smile.
they are my patches of motherhood.
or life.
whichever.
and it's all charming.
at least, that's what i see when i see them.
charm.
a little piece of my brennan right there on my face.
the good and the bad.
and it's beautiful.
absolutely beautiful.