I’ve always been a people watcher.  My attention was drawn to a young lady wearing the most obscene pair of shoes.  The heels were sky-high and the toes were so pointy, I could feel the gout pain flaring up in my own big toe and bunion.  I watched her walk with much difficulty, holding a stack of books in her arms.  But when she started up a set of stairs, those long pointy toes got in the way and she fell down, landing on her throat on the corner of an upper step with all her weight.  I ran over to see if she needed help, knowing her thyroid (among other things) would never be the same.

I couldn’t help but wonder why we make the decisions we do, and why we sometimes make life so much harder on ourselves than it has to be.  At the very least, why torment your feet — that glorious pair of bony attachments at the end of our legs that quite literally carry us through life?  Seems a shame to punish them when they are so loyal to us.

I see it every day in my estates.  We all carry too much.  We all have too much.  In fact, we have so much, we have trouble walking through our own lives carrying all our stuff.  We aren’t making sensible decisions because we are too preoccupied with how we look and how much we own.  What we all need is a good dose of sensibility.

There was a time when I wore stilettos (a very long time ago when I didn’t think about the damage it would do to me now at nearly 50).  Today I prefer the simplicity of going barefoot in my own home.  And for those times when going barefoot are not optional, I opt for good, sensible shoes.  While I have been the butt of jokes from my teenage daughter regarding shoe selection, I have reached a point in my mature life where comfort outweighs how I look.

As for me and my feet, we choose sensibility.  It’s my way of thanking them for carrying me through this obstacle-ridden journey of ours, and they in turn reward me with happy feet.

One less pain to deal with in life.

© 2012 Julie Hall