Be Polished Nails & Tanning Boutique

edited ‼️12:30

Salon entrance will have water pooling. Great day for some cute boots!☔️

Hot temps and bright nails! Love!

Full day of toes today! ✨👣

Sandal season is here and your feet deserve some love. Treat yourself to a relaxing pedicure and leave feeling refreshed, polished, and summer ready! 💅☀️

Message me to schedule your appointment!

✨

Alexia showing off the new nail look at work!

✨I'm Excited to be back!

Thank you to everyone who has reached out, checked in, and continued to pray for our family. The love and support truly mean more than words can express.

This has been forever life changing, and we are beyond grateful for every prayer, message, and kind thought along the way. ❤️

A gentle reminder to breathe through it and take a moment for yourself. ✨

"Someone I love went to work-and didn't come home."

Last week has changed me.

As I sit here thinking about everything going on—people coming home from spring break trips, others packing up to leave, and all of us preparing for Easter Sunday—I keep coming back to one thing…how blessed we are to have time with our families.

The simple things. Sitting at the table together. Hearing your kids laugh in the next room. Making plans for a holiday. Hugging someone you love without a second thought.

We expect those moments.

We assume they’ll always be there.

But the truth is…that’s not everyone’s reality right now.

And I didn’t fully understand that until this week—until it hit my own family.

I’m not someone who comes on here and talks about heavy topics. I’ve always avoided it. Not because I don’t care, but because I know how divided people can become. And honestly, I’ve said it so many times—what difference does my voice even make?

I’m just Crystal Marks from a small town.

But today, I’m choosing to believe it matters.

And I want to be clear—this is not about politics. I don’t care who you voted for. I’ve always believed we can all have different views and still respect one another.

This is about humanity. About what is right and what is happening right in front of us…whether we choose to see it or not.

For years, I’ve stayed quiet.

I’ve heard people talk about others “abusing the system,” calling them lazy, saying they don’t deserve help—while knowing that those very programs helped me survive as a single mom. Helped me put food on the table. Helped me take care of my daughter.

I’ve heard people use careless, hurtful words about race—while raising my biracial daughter, knowing one day she could hear those same words and feel them in a way others never will.

And still…I said nothing.

I kept the peace. I stayed in my lane. I told myself it wasn’t worth it.

But silence doesn’t protect people. It just makes things easier to ignore.

Because the truth is, there is so much happening that people don’t see.

I didn’t see it either.

I didn’t know that someone could be walking into work—just like you or I do every single day—and be approached, NOT questioned, taken. Handcuffed. Put into a vehicle. And suddenly…they’re gone.

No warning.
No call home.
No chance to explain.

Just gone.

I didn’t know that even people with documentation could still end up caught in a system where they now have to prove they belong here—while sitting, waiting, away from their families.

Waiting days. Weeks. Sometimes longer.

I didn’t know what that kind of fear felt like.

The fear of not knowing where your loved one is.
The fear of your kids asking where mom or dad went—and not having an answer.
The fear of realizing that something as normal as going to work could change your entire life in a matter of minutes.

There are families right now who won’t get their Easter together.

Kids who won’t see their parents this week.
Parents who don’t know when they’ll hold their children again.

And the hardest part?

So many people don’t even realize this is happening.

Or they think, “well, they must have done something wrong.”

And yes—if someone is committing a crime, I understand accountability.

But going to work? Providing for your family? Having proof you belong here and still being treated like you don’t?

That doesn’t feel like justice to me.

That feels like something is broken.

I’m not sharing this to argue. I’m not sharing this to divide.

I’m sharing this because I was once someone who didn’t fully understand either.

Until it became personal.

Until it had a name. A face. A family I love.

And now I can’t unsee it.

So if you take anything from this, let it just be this—there is more to people’s stories than what we assume. There is more happening than what we hear.

And maybe…just maybe…we can all lead with a little more compassion before judgment.

Because right now, this isn’t just “out there” somewhere.

It’s happening to real people.
Real families.

And it’s hitting my home.

(No comments needed out of respect please)