The Weird Kid

When I was little I would look at my mom's feet a lot, since they were often off the ground in one way or another. She was most often in the recliner, on the sofa, sitting splay legged on the floor. I thought her feet were horrible.They were always dirty. Not just played in the mud dirty but an older, deeper dirt of neglect. And the skin around the heels and pads was white and cracked. I thought it looked very painful and disgusting. I'd look at my own pink little feet and feel very clear joy that they were mine.

Today my feet are like my mom's. I say today, because I just realized it. Dry and cracked and dirty because I never wear shoes and socks, only Stride-Rite sandals, because I don't have to bend over to put them on. And Smudge's feet are small and pink.

Smudge's feet have all the potential mine did.