“My brand new sandals are a little stiff, and I think they’ll give me blisters. But I love them, so I’ll probably wear them out. With cautious feet, we move forward. Today is the first step of our new lives.” – Inio Asano, Solanin
“…the track of the three camels and three pairs of sandals was like an arrow diminishing into infinity across the wavering sand.” – Mike Bond, The last Savanna
I bought a new pair of flip flops today. When I was a kid, they were sometimes called thongs or zories. I can’t imagine myself wearing a thong but I do wear flip flop sandals. You know, the sandal like sole of a shoe with a strip of fabric that goes between your big toe and you know, that little piggie that stayed home. I’ve worn the same pair of flip flops for years. I bought them in Corvallis at what used to be the Famous Shoe Store near the Cannery Mall in Corvallis. So…I don’t know maybe eight years ago? I’ve walked hundreds of miles in them. The ones I bought back then are Dr. Scholl’s. The ones I bought today are something called Olukai. Never heard of them. They cost twice as much as Dr. Scholl’s but I guess everything is more expensive today than they were eight or so years ago.
But the Dr. Scholl’s were comfortable to walk in. From day one. No, rawness between the toes. They fit like they were a part of me. I kept them beside my bed. They were the first thing I put my feet into when I got out of bed in the morning. I had a routine. Get up. Put on my flip flops and my bathrobe and take the dog out to pee. My neighbor across the street, Betty, had the same schedule. She would take her dog out to pee in her bathrobe as well. No, the dog didn’t pee on her bathrobe. I guess I could have written that sentence a little differently. With both dogs, peeing, we would greet each other and wish each other a good morning. Rain, shine, snow, whatever, every morning the same thing.
Then I’d come inside, take a shower, fix breakfast, have juice and coffee, and then take the dog for his morning poop walk. We had different walks. If I was in a hurry, we did the quarter mile walk. Most often we did the half mile walk. But almost as often we did the ¾ mile walk. In the evening we often did the mile walk. The morning walk was nearly always in those Dr. Scholls unless it was snowing and even then, occasionally. Once Linda got sick, I let her sleep in, and it was just me and Cyrus.
After work, I’d change out of work clothes, and Linda and I would take Cyrus out for our evening walk. Again in the Dr. Scholls. During the early stages of her disease, we walked the same walk in hopes that if she went out on her own, things would be familiar and she might find her way back. It was normally the mile walk. Linda needed to get out and get exercise and walking together hand-in-hand through the neighborhood was very special for us. I’m not sure the same routine was that beneficial, because Alzheimer’s kind of robbed her from any sense of direction and she would occasionally go for a walk while I was at work and get lost. We had an awesome mail carrier and he knew Linda and knew that she could become disoriented and he would call 911 when he saw her out and about and the police would come and give her an escort home. Instead of being upset by this, Linda was quite happy to see our local police officers who kindly would return her to our home. I am very grateful for the kindness, tenderness and respect with which they treated her.
I still have the Dr. Scholls and they still have some life left in them, but the bottom tread is getting cracked where there is still tread left and I know at some point they are just going to fail. So, today, I purchased new flip flops. Seems appropriate. New love. New marriage. New flip flops. “Today is the first step of our new lives.” Who knows where these sandals might go?
Husbandry 