Bedazzled Slippers

I had to go to the grocery store for more soup supplies.

In the rainy Seattle winter, all I want to eat right now seems to be mashed potatoes and soup of every conceivable variety.

It was surprisingly crowded for a Monday afternoon and I ended up in a long line waiting for the checkout.

I've been practicing trying to more fully utilize those types of pauses in my days, the unexpected invitations to stop for a moment.

I try to look around me, to listen, to make note of the small details I'd usually overlook in my hurry.

And so it was I found myself gazing at the footwear of the girl in line ahead of me.

She had on slippers.

I don't mean "slippers" as in flip-flops.

Or those moccasin-style ones with the indoor/outdoor soles that kind of pass for real shoes.

I mean slippers.

They were hot pink, puffy, and had her initials bedazzled on the heels (though I feel like "heel" indicated a more defined shape than was truly happening here).

In other words, they were awesome.

Of course, I had to tell her that I thought so.

In case you didn't know this about me yet, I am not cool.

Not in any way, shape, or form.

I don't play it cool. I don't keep my cool. I am simply not cool.

What I am is enthusiastic. To a fault occasionally.

So I may have scared this poor girl when I spotted her slippers and let out a small squeal of utter delight and yelled far louder than was necessary to span the six feet of distance between us, "I LOVE YOUR SLIPPERS!!!!"

As it turned out, she actually was cool, and delivered me the most deadpan ever, "I have officially hit the fucking pandemic wall, so fuck real shoes. I'm not doing that shit anymore."

I just grinned under my mask at her like a total sociopath.

That is a woman with zero boundary issues, I'd bet my bubbling pot of zuppa toscana.

I don’t have any life lessons for you today.

I just wanted to share this all interaction and tell you that if YOU are hitting your pandemic wall (or this iteration of it), you aren’t alone.

The world continues to be a tender, fraught, confusing, struggling place and it’s hard going sometimes.

If you need to say “fuck it” to something, be it real shoes or something else, give yourself the space to do it to the extent possible.

Deadlines are often more flexible than we think.

It’s okay to let a plate or two hit the ground.

You are not solely responsible for keeping the world in orbit.

Get what you need.

Go as gently as you can, with yourself and with others.

Take care of yourself.

We cannot pour from an empty cup.

Sending you all the hot pink slipper vibes and tons of love today.