Trips & Falls & Badges of Honor

The problem with going barefoot is that if you get up in a hurry and aren't watching your steps, you slam into a chair leg and break your toe. Between tears and curses, curses won - hands down, as it were.

The following morning I looked at my toe - swollen, turned outward and crooked, painful and turning several shades of yellow and purple. What was your hurry? I asked myself dismally, Look what a moment's carelessness has gotten you. I struggled into shoes and hobbled about, not sure whether I could successfully lay blame for this on the chair leg or not. Each step sent up a small protest of pain, reached my brain and announced itself. More curses followed.

It's a small thing, really, a little toe and was what really annoying was that I had done it to myself, a simple matter of not paying attention to one step was going to mean days of aggravation and impaired mobility. It was my first broken bone since childhood when I had taken a running start and leapt into a discarded refrigerator box, catching my foot and falling rather than sailing clearly over as planned. A trip to the emergency room followed, where my fractured ankle was set and put in a cast. Later that same year, I had reached for a fouled off softball and ended up not only missing it, but having my ring finger bent backwards until it snapped, thereby creating another ER run and a splinted finger. Both had been, in a sixth grade kind of way, badges of honor - a broken toe at this point in my life was just foolishness.

On the bright side, if there was one to be found, I did have nine other toes - I spend my days mostly seated in front of a computer - and I do work for a foot doctor. And, if this had happened to Cousin Linda, it would've meant a day long session in the ER, complete with blood transfusions.

Grudgingly, I had to admit it could've been worse. The xray showed no fracture and within 24 hours the soreness had dissipated ( although the bruising and discoloration remained ) and I was walking almost normally, provided I was careful. It was a tiny but significant reminder that we are all fragile creatures - physically, emotionally, spiritually - and that we should pay attention on the journey and be mindful of each step, especially when traveling a short distance and being barefoot. Next time, I told myself in my grandmother's best reprimanding voice, It might be a hip. No badge of honor, that.