I spent my afternoon giving pedicures to incarcerated girls. I am not a Christian but I remember something about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples on the night that he was betrayed by Judas. Supposedly this act was meant to convey his humility and his abiding love for his disciples. There is something moving about the act of touching feet. Particularly if those feet belong to people who you know have experienced profound suffering.

As I massaged the feet of girl after girl, we would talk. Mostly, we spoke about how long they had been incarcerated and about when they would be released. Some girls asked whether I was a professional nail technician and when I said that I was just a volunteer, their eyes would widen and they would thank me for being there. “God bless you,” a young woman said. “No one has ever done something so nice for me.”

That is a travesty. If the nicest thing that you’ve ever had done to you in 17 years of living is a pedicure inside a prison, then your life must have been pretty awful. And that’s just it. As I listened to the young women talk about having been incarcerated for 7 months, 1 year, 24 months, I felt a heaviness settle in my heart. Prison is no place for children. It is no place for anyone really.

The heaviness of my heart co-exists with the constant (if sometimes fleeting) hope that I also carry within me. I looked around the room where I was sitting and saw my friends and some strangers also painting nails. Most importantly, I listened as they spoke with care and love to the young women who were receiving manicures and pedicures from them. The older I get, the more convinced I am that nothing worthwhile can be done in isolation. I am thankful for the community of women who I am blessed to share space with on this planet. I don’t think that women only hold up half of the sky; I think that we carry at least 3/4 of it. Time and again, when I put out the call for support it is my sisters in struggle (friends and strangers) who answer. They give of their time, they contribute money, they donate items, they organize, they nurture… and basically they just SHOW UP. As I recover from organizing these two self-care events this weekend, this is what continues to inspire me and give me fuel for the next endeavor. My profound gratitude to everyone who helped make these two days wonderful.