I've seen plenty of other women do it, so I'm not sure why it took me so long to start donning a pair of kitchen gloves before washing the dishes.

Perhaps because I'm only now without a dishwasher (machine and person) after eight years of having one (both).

Or maybe I was searching for just the right pair. Like these white ones that help me pretend that I'm about to attend a benefit gala, rather than about to attack a pot of skinned-over oatmeal.

Nah.

The shallow truth is that I wear them to protect the irresistibly cheap and ubiquitous manicures that I went without for those same eight years.

Even Cinderella needs to treat herself once in a while.