Happy New Year and happy feet!

How could I have lived 75 years before learning how good pedicures are?

DES MOINES, Iowa — In a two-hour time period Friday afternoon, I picked up a tuxedo to wear to the New Year’s Eve wedding of a couple of cool young guys I’ve met, and then I collected on a great Christmas gift from my wife Mary Riche — my first-ever pedicure.

Yes, in my 75th year, life is good! Different than I might have imagined it, but very good.

I’m amazed how many times I find myself thinking, or even saying, “How can I have lived 75 years without knowing about this?”

That’s how I felt during and after the pedicure that Tien “Angel” Tran gave me at 4 Seasons Nails & Spa in the Des Moines suburb of Windsor Heights. It was great!

First pedicure!

I did have to overcome a little pre-pedicure anxiety. Mary was already at the salon, getting a “mani,” while I was picking up my tux at Skeffington’s. We were texting back and forth. Her message to me was that there were two other men getting pedicures right then. I messaged back to her, “My toes are nervous.”

Walking into 4 Seasons was not reassuring. First, I saw no other men getting pedis. “They’re already done,” Angel said when I asked. But there were a dozen or more women customers getting a “mani,” “pedi” or other available services like “nail enhancement,” “eyelash extensions,” “waxing” of eyebrows and lips, and more. I think I counted 12 desks for those getting manicures, and 11 huge recliners — with built-in massage equipment — for us pedicure customers.

The east wall was lined with small shelves that held hundreds of small bottles. “What are those?” I asked Angel. She said the bottles contained hundreds of different colors for painting nails!

Angel explained she was born and raised in Vietnam. “My name ‘Tien’ in Vietnamese means ‘Angel’ in English,” she explained. She’s been in the U.S. for 11 years, I think she said, is married and enjoying life here. She said she and her husband make visits to family still in Vietnam “every two or three years.”

She took her training for doing manicures and pedicures in her home country, and explained it’s a very popular career field for Vietnamese women and men. Indeed, the 4 Seasons spa is owned & operated by a Vietnamese couple, and most of the staff are Vietnamese, too.

So Mary, whose “mani” was being finished up by Amanda Lopez across the aisle and just south, had paid for a $35 “Basic Pedicure” for me. However, Angel suggested an upgrade to the $47 “Signature Spa Pedicure,” and what the hell do I know? She pointed out the upgrade would include extra foot massaging and hot towels, and I was all-in immediately.

The 4 Seasons brochure reminds me that I received “nails and cuticles care, callus removal, sugar scrub exfoliation for smoothing away rough skin, a foot mask wrap with hot towels, a hot stone and lotion massage boosting blood circulation and relieving stress, and a polish of your choice.”

I’m telling you, fellas, it was a bargain. And next time, I’m not declining the polish at the end. I’m already thinking about good colors and designs for sandal season.

How you look after “sugar scrub exfoliation,” a “foot mask wrap” with hot towels, and a “hot stone and lotion massage.”

On Friday evening, my wife Mary told this story on Facebook, 211 people liked it and 47 took time to make comments — most of them encouraging.

“Love this!” my Iowa Writers Collaborative sidekick Suzanna de Baca, of Huxley, wrote to Mary. “Tell him a lot of guys get toenail polish now! I believe you may have created a habit!”

LaVonne Anderson, of Des Moines, wrote that Mary “married a good sport. A key to good aging is being open to trying new things! My husband Gary first went to a nail salon 10 years ago when he took me for my mani/pedi after I had a stroke. Once when he got a pedicure, he had them paint smiley faces on his big toenails. At 6 ft. 5 1/2 in., he doesn’t get flack from anyone about having polish on his toenails. Ha!”

My sister Chris Werner, of Cedar Rapids, asked me, “Did they also tell you that you can get your toes painted in team colors? And my guy adds logos and little baseballs. Just sayin’.”

Rand Fisher, of Des Moines, wrote, “I hope he wore his saddle shoes to the spa!” I didn’t. Went incognito this time.

Deb McGinn, of Jefferson, offered, “Tell him red always looks fashionable on toes. Or a second good selection is blue. Never can go wrong with either!”

Mike Triggs, of West Des Moines, added, “I get a matte finish.”

George N. Peak, a native Iowan now in Denver, Colo., said pedicures are “perfect anytime, but especially in wintertime.”

Chuck Morris, of Atlantic, called it “classic Chuck Offenburger — always dipping his toes into the waters of new adventures!”

And Cyrena Buschmann, of Sigourney, said “anyone his age, with an earring, should definitely have his toenails polished!” (Yes, on the earring; I’ve worn one longer than any Iowa male since Chief Black Hawk.)

So happy New Year, all. Thanks to my wife Mary and an Angel, I’m starting 2023 with happy feet!

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