Family . . .

is awesome. I've had two opportunities in the last couple of months to spend the weekend with the fabulous women in my mom's family and in my dad's family.

I'm so thankful to have a family so rich in character and diverse.

They are wonderful.

I love them.

The Barefoot Princess

At one time in my life my nickname was the "Barefoot Princess". I received this nickname by, you guessed it, not wearing shoes, or going barefoot as often as I could get away with it.

I truly do not like to wear shoes.

However, by choosing to live in the cold, wet, rainy NW I wear shoes more often than not. I usually take them off as soon as I walk in my house, and probably wear flippy's more often than the average Portlander, pushing the limits of Spring and Fall weather.

But today I'm choosing not to wear shoes at all. All day. No shoes. In honor of all the people in the world who don't have shoes to wear. You can find out more information about my pledge here http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com.

(Weeeelllllll, okay, I did stick a pair of flippies in my purse just in case I need to go in a "no shoes, no shirt, no service" establishment and I did use them once for about 15 minutes while in Seattle's Best.)

Observations from today:

1. Asphault and concrete look smooth, but they're not. By the time I walked the 4 blocks from my house to the MAX station, the bottom of my feet were already raw.

2. Portlanders are so desentitized to wierd people/stuff no one even blinked/noticed my bare feet, which was slightly disappointing since I worked hard at painting my toenails.

3. I'm a vain creature (see observation #2).

4. By the time I got to work, my feet where cold, wet, dirty, and my toes were numb.

5. It's really hard to get warm when your feet are cold. Actually, it might be impossible.

6. I found myself choosing my walking route according to where the sun was shining to keep my feet from being SO freezing, stinking cold.

7. I'm a wimp. After I rode the MAX home from work I put flippies on for the rest of my evening. It was a compromise. I really wanted to put actual shoes on. I wanted my feet to be warm again.

8. There is nothing princess-like about being barefoot when it doesn't involve walking through warm sand or across cool grass.

My 8 hour experience being shoeless is nothing compared to the many people in our world that don't have shoes. My feet were washed, lotioned, and warmed up at the end of the day and I know that going barefoot didn't really change the life of any shoeless person. It changed mine. My prayers for God's grace and mercy to provide for the poor and suffering will be a little more earnest, informed with the memory of my cold, raw feet.