Hobbling

I feel like Bob Cratchett the Christmas of Tiny Tim's death as I trudge up the hill toward my home after school.  Not comparative to his sadness and despair...rather just the rate at which he walks.  I like to be able to get places pretty quickly, but the hill that normally takes me ten minutes to hike to get home now takes me 25 minutes.  It takes me 150% longer to get anywhere with this bum ankle of mine.

I often keep some kind of soda in my backpack because I get thirsty and I like them.  Problem is, with my Igor-like harrumphing along, my sodas inevitably are shaken to their wits end as I travel from place to place. It's amazing how long a well-shaken bottle of soda takes to sigh when you just slightly crack the lid so the air can escape without your making a mess.  Sometimes it takes the whole hour!  Root beer is especially tricky, because it is of Diablo and lies to you.  Watch, when you open a root beer, all the air escapes really fast.  Nothing happens.  Relieved, you take the cap off.  Then, the root beer's one-second delay is over, and it becomes a miniature Mount Vesuvius.  Many a day as the nefarious root beer duped me and soiled my pants.

Speaking of feet, I have another anomaly of sentiments I would like to discuss today:  I think it is amazing the things will do that are unpleasant simply because we want to be sure to please another person, whether they are our boss, our mother, our girlfriend/boyfriend, etc.  It seems an obvious sentiment to do something painful for someone you love if it is going to bring them great success or save their life...it's the little, irrelevant pains we will put ourselves through that are very funny to me.

Let me explain what I mean.

This is a pair of shoes I was graciously given out of the blue a couple weeks ago by a good friend of mine.  He just recently returned from an LDS mission, and I had just been desiring some more colorful shoes to wear.  Out of nowhere, he's like, "Hey, Todd, I have a present for you!" and it was awesome colorful shoes!!  I was so touched, pleased, and excited!

And then I put them on.

If you look closely at the right shoe, you will find quickly that there is a rather large tear on the top on the right side.  But that's okay, I can deal with that.

But they don't really secure to your feet very well.  As I am walking around, they just kind of flop up and down off my ankles.  They're the right size, but they just don't hug your foot when you've tied it at the place where you put your foot in and out.

But I can deal with that.  The thing that absolutely boggles my mind (I don't know how many of you have already noticed, and are just waiting on pins and needles for me to mention it) is how things shoes ever got sold as a pair in the first place.  Seriously??  Can you see the 1.5 inch difference between the length of the white stitching on the left shoe from the right shoe?  They are SO asymmetrical, I want to throw up.  I wonder if just everyone in the shoe industry is blind, or someone let them slip through as a cruel joke.  Either way, I don't approve.  I demand symmetry in all feasible aspects of my life.

But I wear them!  At least once a week!  Why?  Because I'm sure that my friend never noticed the defects, and he was so excited to give them to me.  I will put myself through an entire day of torture simply so he can see me wearing them once a week and smile.  

And we all have things like that we do for those we care about in our lives.  Absolutely nonessential silly things that we do, impractical for us, just to help them feel our love.  It's inspiring, really.

You have no idea how many seemingly insignificant things others change about their lives just for you, that you have never noticed.  You are so lucky!  And you don't even know it!!

Aren't humans great?