Meri's Play Place

Some experts claim that nail biters suffer from anxiety and that the act of biting your nails  reduces anxiety levels. Others think it's just habit. And that could be. . .  because for me, it's so ingrained that I rarely realize I'm doing it. I've tried painting on the nasty tasting stuff. Getting artificial nails. With the fake nails, I just start picking at any loose spots and eventually strip them all off, taking the top layers of my nails with it. The few times I've fought the urge and finally grew them out to the ends of my fingers (or even beyond), my nails are really soft and tear and break so easily that I give up and go back to the raggedy, bitten look. Whatever the etiology, maybe it's not something I'll change in this lifetime. What intractable habits bedevil you?

I don't think I've ever done a Sepia Saturday using my own pictures, but here goes. I see myself as a somber four-year old and wonder, "What is that little girl thinking?" My eyes seem to hold too much knowledge and wisdom for someone who'd been such a short time on earth, this time around at least. I see myself as a seemingly confident about-to-be high school senior, a cheerleader, a school leader, involved in a multitude of activities, practicing at love and chomping at the bit to go to college and have more freedom (albeit with my parents footing the bill). Now I look at her, her youthful exuberance so plainly showing, and I wonder, "If she knew then what I know now, would she have made choices differently?" Would she still believe in happy endings, that one man could be  the love of a lifetime? Would she have been more cautious in giving her heart, less willing to elevate other people's needs above her own? There are no do-overs, ...