Happy Feet

As summer approaches there are changes afoot in our house – namely the shedding of slippers and the switchover to flip-flops. Now I do enjoy something warm and cozy on my toesies during the winter but when it gets warm outside, I prefer to wander around in socks to even get the mail. Yeah they quickly turn battleship gray on the bottom but it sure beats walking barefoot. I actually cannot stand naked feet and wearing flip-flops. Who wants their feet violated by that rubber thong shoved between their toes?

I have always been a bit of a tenderfoot growing up. Even beyond my personal ban on barefooted behavior, at one point I had to have my shoes checked for allergies to my feet. The doc must have owned a ‘steak’ in a suede shop, because I was magically allergic to ONLY manmade shoes, not the pricey leather ones. I think my Dad probably thought I was pulling some kind of flim-flam foot scam but he gritted his teeth and paid for the fancy leather shoes anyway.

Now oddly my own daughter seems to love BOTH flip-flops and walking around barefoot. This is contrary to when she was but a young pup playing on blankets in the park. If we tried to stick her bare feet down on those spiky daggers of grass, she would immediately raise them up like a drawbridge. She never fought us putting on shoes and socks like a lot of youngsters do, so I thought her foot fortitude would be as low as mine someday. No, these days my kid will bound up the stairs, go outside, dance, or even walk in grass, with or without footwear now.

It is probably my mother’s genes that are at fault? Clearly my Mom’s propensity for walking or doing anything barefoot has skipped me and liberally infected my daughter’s generation. I’m starting to wonder if all these un-clad happy feet are just another ‘unTOEward’ scam (like my allergy angle) to keep those expensive pedicure places in business? No doubt my daughter will protest and of course disagree. Unlike her old man’s dirty sock-covered skis, my kid’s fancy feet are special and demand professional pampering and care. After all she’ll claim … they’re her best ‘FEETURE’!