For some people, when they hear the term “fall cleanup” they think of raking leaves, pruning trees, and cutting the grass…for me, it’s more about having a summers worth of dead skin scraped from the balls of my feet, removing the “reverse” French pedicure that has appeared at the bottom of my toenails, and having the cracks in my heels closed up for the season like the doors of my favorite frozen yogurt shop.
After two and a half hours of soaking, sanding, filing and polishing at my favorite nail salon, my fall cleanup is complete. My feet are about a half a size smaller, my toenails have a full coat of paint and my heels can no longer double as a knife sharpener. I can now confidently slide my feet into a pair of closed-toe shoes without worrying about getting a foot cramp, as my arch can fully extend without my big toenail trying to puncture its way through the front of my bootie to make room. I no longer have to check for dangling remnants of old, dried up, blisters peeking out of my shoes, as a result of wearing cute summer sandals that became less cute and more like butcher twine around a roast, as my feet swelled in the summer heat. And now that my nails no longer look like I cut them with pinking shears, my husband no longer has to fear getting a laceration on his calf as I climb into bed.
As lawn bags filled with leaves and dead branches make their way to the curb for pick up alongside garbage bags full of used cotton balls and dried skin, I say goodbye to summer of 2017 and Hello Fall!