Anyway, Rob came with me to the pedicure place and sat next to me in the vibrating chair and watched TV while I relaxed and turned my feet pretty. I remember telling Rob that someday I'd treat him to a pedicure (sans nail polish, of course) because he'd love it. If you've ever seen Rob's feet, you'd know that they're pretty yucky, and yes, if I were a pedicurist (is that their job title?), I'd be doing Rob's feet and thinking, ugh, my job sucks sometimes!
I don't mean to sound snotty, so let me explain this a little bit different. I think most men do not care much about their feet, and the look and feel of them suffers, gets crusty and calloused. Rob's feet are so calloused that he can walk on 130 degree beach sand without wincing. And for as long as I've known Rob, I think I've only seen him use real clippers to trim his toenails maybe 5 times. He prefers to tear them off, which I just shudder at when I see.
All this talk reminds me of that one Eddie Murphy movie, Boomerang, where he judges the women he sleeps with as a "keeper" if, in the morning, when he pulls the sheets off to expose her toes, a beautiful, pedicured set is revealed. I think that Sally Hansen, OPI, and other beauty companies that manufacture nail polish should try a new spin on selling product, and expanding their client-base. They should market "manly" colors and produce TV commercials that are similar-but-opposite to the Boomerang movie, where it shows a man lying in bed with a beautiful woman, and maybe they could have those little Pop-ups (ala VH1's Pop-Up Video) where it shows what the man is thinking. It could be like "Wow, she is amazing. We had such a connection. I think she could turn out to be the woman I marry." Then the woman pulls the sheets off the bottom to reveal his toes, and it shows them all crusty and gross. Then the woman storms off, thinking to herself in those Pop-ups, "How disgusting! I can't believe I let those feet touch mine last night! I'm going home to soak in epsom salts and I'm never calling him again!" Then the commercial could flash - Got Crust-itis on your feet? Take care of it with Sally Hansen's Pedicure For-Men-Only brand, available at CVS and Rite-Aid nationwide. Clever idea, huh? That's it, I'm quitting coaching....
Anyway, back to my story: I decided to treat Rob to a pedicure yesterday. We spent the afternoon together hiking on trails near the Eno River, then swimming in a small hole that looked really gross, but once we got in, we realized it was great! It was a little dirty, but it's rare to find open water out here that's not dirty, so whatever...it was surprisingly cool, given how many days above 100 degrees we've had in the past 2 weeks. Here I am checking out the water, while Rob was still on the trail, deciding whether or not he wanted to get in:
After the swim, we drove through Cook-Out and got a pre-dinner snack that was really like lunch, since we'd missed lunch altogether by hiking. I had told Rob that I had a surprise in store for him, and he kept trying to guess what it was, but I wasn't letting him. I had him drive down Roxboro Street, turn into the Wal-Mart shopping center, then directed him around to the end where the nail salon was, right next door to a Subway. Rob said, Subway...but we just ate? I said, nope, I'm treating your feet (and mine) to a pedicure, c'mon!
So we walk in and request 2 pedicures. There's a couple of women getting their nails done and they look at us. I ask one woman, "men can get pedicures, right?" and she said oh yeah, her boyfriend had gotten one a couple years ago and he loved it! I think this comment may have made Rob feel more comfortable. While the owners of the salon are busy cleaning out the tubs where you soak your feet, I'm picking out my toenail color and Rob picks up a TigerDirect.com catalog. They call us over and we sit and soak our feet for a while. Ahhhh.
They did everything for Rob that they'd do for me during a pedicure, except for the nail polish. I really think they should reduce the price a bit for a man-pedicure, but eh, who am I to argue about cost-to-value ratios with a little, old Asian man who doesn't speak English all that well and who works hard for his money? By the way, we paid $22 each for this 30 minute relaxing and beautifying treatment.
Rob's feet responded to the lavish attention by turning bright red - I wish I'd brought the camera inside so I could've snapped a picture for you all to see. When we were finished, I asked Rob how he liked it and he said it was real nice. But I doubt that when Rob goes back to work on Monday morning, when his co-workers ask him what he did over the weekend, that he'll say, my wife and I got pedicures!
Afterwards, we went home to shower off the gunk stuck to our skin from the Eno River. I gave Rob a haircut, too. Then we went to Kyle and Jess's housewarming party. We arrived 3.5 hours late, oops. By the time we got there, the only people left were Kyle, Jess and Jason. It was a fun way to spend an evening, though.
Now, to start Sunday, I'm heading to church, where I haven't shown my presence there since the month of May. I'm taking my bike with me, too, and hopefully I'll feel like riding my bike somewhere afterwards.
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