When I was a little kid, I hated shoes. I didn’t walk until my 10th birthday had passed and shoes were just weights hanging off the ends of my legs. My mom shared these feelings about shoeing me. In the mornings I would protest and she would grab my leg and turn and twist and push as I struggled, I don’t know why my legs didn’t break off during the procedure.
We lived in a family where shoes came off at the door. I am the 2nd of 8 kids and the amount of dirt, leaves and pebbles we would track inside was short circuited at the front door. It was such a big deal that my mom kept water and rags near the door and upon entering, she would scrub then dry my wheelchair wheels. The smell of wet rubber, even today, makes me a little nostalgic.
My dad used to have my sister and I clean and polish his work boots every weekend. We were good at it and his boots lasted forever.
Besides my mom a few other people can be counted on to be hyper-aware of shoes. These are generally people in medical fields and crime scene investigators. They know only too well the hazards surrounding foot-ware. Ask any CSI as the put on or take off their paper booties and they will be glad to share.
We are all getting the hang of covering our faces and living in a ‘look don’t touch’ era of social distancing. But have many of us thought about our shoes? Where we walked, maybe gloved, hand sanitized, wearing home-made masks as we tried not to touch our faces, have we thought about where our feet have been?
When people cast off virus, as I understand, it falls in little puffs down to the floor or roadway or sidewalk not so far from the person’s feet. The virus may drift a little but it is there and we are walking, as my mom would say, “in another man’s problems.”
We carry those murderous bastards to our cars, up our own driveways and into our houses.
Because I don’t have a great relationship with shoes, I don’t mind taking them off and storing them in a safe area in my car. In fact, carrying a second pair of clean shoes to change into before leaving the parking lot may be a very good idea.
Covid-19, like many, maybe all, viruses cannot be killed but until it runs out of steam and returns to a quiet state in the animal kingdom, we need to be vigilant.
Till next time, Life is a Story – Tell it Big.
Don’t touch anything sharp.
If you are looking for something to read, check out the links to three of my books here on the website.