Sunday, May 23, 2010

altered states of mind

I flew down the stairs and shoved my feet into my leather clogs. Out the door I sprang and into the car. Back down the driveway, up the street, around the corner, up to the light, and away to the freeway. Exits approached and disappeared behind me. Lanes were changed. The routines of life beg to be changed it seems. Or transcended. I suppose this is why a person can drive for miles and suddenly wake up like Rip Van Winkle and realize that no conscious memory exists of the trip. This is not a good state of mind for the driver of a car and I have employed many tricks to force myself to focus on the moment. Well, the moment I leapt out of the car at work, my focus was on my feet. Something felt different. Why did one leg feel longer than the other. I pulled up my pant legs and stared in disbelief at my shoes. Or shoe as it turned out. One leather clog was mine, and the other was clearly my daughters. Now in my defense, they were identical in colour and the styles were very alike. The wedge heels weren't quite the same height though, and sizes didn't match. It's impossible to walk in shoes that are two different heights and so I hobbled to a nearby store and bought myself a pair of flip flops. Workman's Compo. would have cringed. A few months later, the dash and drive to work found me standing and staring in disbelief at my feet again. Had I learned nothing about the perils of the altered state of mind. This time a black shoe and a navy shoe were replaced by flip flops. I hesitate to continue the story. Late one evening, my daughter and her friend and I raced the clock to squeeze in a visit to the Dollar Store. As we sped away from the house, I was suddenly aware that something felt different. With a sense of foreboding and disbelief I stared down at my feet. Both slip ons, but nothing else was even similar, colour, size, style....owner. My daughter is more prepared than any Boy Scout and she pulled a pair of Crocs from her trunk. Three strikes and you're out came to mind but amazingly enough, last week as I crossed the parking lot at work, Holey shoes the color of cheddar cheese leered up at me. What???! These were my "inside shoes" I wore instead of slippers at home. They had never seen the light of day. I was suddenly very much in the moment. Routine was trampled under foot. But I felt an unexpected spring in my step the rest of the day.

3 comments:

  1. I posted a comment yesterday but it appears not to have "taken". I'll try again. I've done this before! you are not alone. Once it was to church where I had to give the annoucements! Fortunately I was able to go home and change before I had to go on.

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  2. Oh dear, I can see the look on your face, but I am sure you took this in stride and could see the humour in it as I know you do with most of life. thank you for bringing a smile to my face!

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  3. took it in stride!!! what a wonderful pun

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