CREATURES OF HABIT

We are all creatures of habit. Our days are arranged around the usual: crawl out of bed, do the morning routine which in our household often includes looking at finances, have a cup of tea, have a bowl of cereal. I will not take less than a superlative cup of tea. I will go out of my way for a good cup of tea.

Somewhere in there one dresses. In my case, since Berkeley mornings can be cold, I bundle up. A pair of nice, comfy slippers are part of the routine here, I do not like shoes. Never have. Never will. When I was a kid I used to take off my shoes at the beginning of the summer and not put them on again until fall. We had a gravel driveway which I had to cross to get to the back door of our house. At the beginning of the summer my passsage across that driveway was accompanied by a series of yelps. By the end of the summer I ran across it pain free.

Yesterday morning I was fully dressed and reading a book to my grandson. I looked down and for some reason saw my feet, which, instead of being in a matching pair of shoes, was in a mismatched pair. It really struck my funny bone. It looked so strange to have one black shoe and one gray shoe on. Delighted, I told Theo, who didn't find it anywhere near as funny as I did. To a three year old the whole world is a mystery, why should a mismatched pair of shoes be hilarious?

I had put them on no more than a second before. Two sets of shoes were under a nearby table and, intent on Theo, I hadn't noticed my mistake. When I got up about a half hour later and began to walk around I discovered something very interesting. My feet felt good!

Now, just to clear something up. My feet never feel good in shoes. Except in this particular, mismatched pair.

Why? I think the why is extremely interesting. I buy good shoes. They mold to my feet. When you have a matched pair of shoes on you aren't particularly aware of your feet except that they hurt. Even with a good pair of shoes on your feet. All you know is you have a good pair of shoes on your feet why don't your feet feel better?

With the mismatched pair on your feet suddenly your aware what's happening with each foot. Oooooh, there's this nice cushion under my right foot and under my left foot something different--but it feels good too. Try it some day. It's damn interesting.

Today, guess what? I'm in the same mismatched pair (by accident, since this morning my son was sleeping in the room where the shoes were and I didn't want to disturb him). My feet feel good. I'm not changing the shoes. I may start a new trend!