That’s the name of the fingernail polish I’m wearing on my ring finger on my left hand.  Yes, it’s different from the other polish on my other fingers.  Why?  Just because I want it to be.

When you get to be my age (41), you realize that some things just really don’t matter.  You also realize that there are things that make you unique that you should embrace and enjoy.  This weird fingernail polish is just one of my many unique qualities.  I guess you could say that the “When You’re Strange” song by the Doors does apply to me, just a little bit.  I’m not totally strange, compared to say Marilyn Mason or something, but I’m not your Junior League, ladies’ lunch, shopaholic, cheerleader type.  I’m just me.  It has taken me nearly 41 years to be able to be proud of who I am.

Today I am trying to finish up the paper from yesterday.  It’s going to be a a good paper when I’m done, mainly because I put my heart and soul into whatever I do.  That’s part of the problem about me being strange – I think a lot of people tend to shuffle off stuff they don’t want to do.  I try to make the best of it and trudge on.  I feel like some of this is because my parents taught me to never give up.  Some of it, I’m sure, is my need to succeed at whatever I do.  Some of it is just plain stubbornness.  I would have made a terrible elementary school teacher, or an excellent one, depending on how you look at it.  No, I don’t want to “save everybody” and I’m definitely not a social worker type who feels that way, but I do want others to put forth the same amount of effort I do – and have a little fun along the way.

I bought the blue fingernail polish not because of the name but because I really liked the color.  It’s pretty close to Florida Gator blue, and I tend to paint my nails during the season to match the team from time to time.  It freaks people out a bit, which is a bit fun, since that always makes them think “wow, we must be dealing with someone either interesting, creative, or strange.”  I’ll take any of the three.  I think you have to be a bit of all three to do what I do at work and home.  I certainly don’t want to be boring!

I have a friend at law school who has dreadlocks.  She’s one of the most interesting people I know.  I have a friend who types on her keyboard while having long, long fingernails.  It drives some folks crazy, but not me.  I see it as part of the comforts of knowing my friends are right there alongside me, trudging through the last part of this journey together.  I have friends who are very “lawyerly” looking – wearing suits and ties or at least dress shirts and dress pants daily.  I dress in business casual most days, although sometimes I wear something just funky and fun.  I want to feel comfortable but different enough to be me.

The polish name stuck out at me again today when I was painting all the other nails pink and that one fingernail blue, of course.  The sky really is the limit, as we close out the next chapter in our lives, with graduation looming a mere 160 days in front of us.  Who knows where life will take us from here!  In the immortal words of Elle, I think I will want to scream on May 18, “We did it!”

Be yourself.  Even if that means you, like many of us, are a bit strange and unique.  Embrace you!