Nailed It

Most of you know that my 78-year-old mother lives with my family. It’s been a nice arrangement for us, especially when our kids were young, as she helped us to raise them. She and my wife get along great, so there never seemed to be any mother-in-law-type conflicts. If anything, the conflicts were between mother and son – namely me.

My mom has slowed down a bit in recent years and spends most of her time puttering around the house, helping with simple housekeeping chores and caring for our dog Buddy while the rest of the family is at work or school. At night when I get home, after I have dinner she will sit and watch TV with me no matter what I’m watching.

We’ve gotten pretty comfortable with that routine, and although I sometimes change it up by reading or checking my smart phone or iPad, I think she just wants to spend time with her firstborn son. I have zero problem with that, until the other night, that is. I was sitting on my recliner watching the tube, when in front of me on the floor she spread out newspapers.

She then sat down and proceeded to clip her toenails. For as long as we’ve lived together, I’ve never remembered her doing this. I guess she felt comfortable enough to do it in my presence and was adding it to our routine. I don’t know about you, but the sound and sight of someone clipping their toenails bugs the heck out of me.

I tried to tolerate it, but halfway through watching Hawaii Five-0, I blurted out, “Ma! Do you have to do that while I’m watching TV?” She apologized, after which I felt kind of bad, so I told her to go ahead and finish. I figured that I’m pretty lucky to be able to spend time with her and in life, you never know when that’s going to end.

But if she ever decides to trim her nose hairs, that’s where I’m going to have to draw the line.