"You now have really expensive feet. We should get them insured."

The first time my mother left China, she went to France so my dad could get his doctorate. She likens this shopping experience to her first out of country experience where she had to thoroughly prepare for whatever was to happen. So I got some shoes (OMG SHOES). And some bathing suits. And some shorts. And some sunglasses. But the most important thing was that I got to spend time with my mommy, which I haven't been able to do in a long while. It is just hitting me that I'm not going to be able to spend this summer at home, and that I am leaving in five short days for two whole months. These past couple of days have gone by way too quickly and although I have had a lot of fun, I had a fleeting feeling of cold feet this afternoon as I realized that I was going away yet again, starting my life, making new memories in a place I might not return to my entire life. It's a little bit of a sobering thought...

All right so enough of being serious, because today was an awesome day.

A short story about sandals and Angela, in two parts:

Part I:
For the longest time, I couldn't bear to have anything stuck between my toes. I think I had a weird experience as a baby with bits of sock fuzz being stuck between my toes and not being able to reach it because I didn't really know what feet were. Therefore, I refused to wear flip flops or sandals with flip flop like tendencies. In fact, I couldn't wear shoes where I was forced to go without socks. And I wore socks EVERYWHERE (except to bed).

---SHORT AWESOME SOCK MONTAGE.---*

  Punky pink and black socks

      

Star-in-your-eyes socks

 

PANDA SOCKS!!!!

 ---

I was also one of those kids who couldn't bear their feet being different colors (yay tan lines?) and so wore socks whenever I had to wear sandals (how uncool. >.<) But...I wore shorts. The result was a super terrible sock tan, kinda like this girl's.**

Fortunately, I got over both the must-wear-socks thing and the can't-have-things-between-my-toes thing and, due to trusty New England coldness, have worn pants for enough of the year so that my feet tanning and leg-whitening have evened out the sock tan. Happy ending, part I.


Part II:
I have many dude friends. Bros, if you will. Next to their feet, my feet look very small. And indeed, I wear a size 6, which is not the easiest size to find shoes in (ladies size 8 is the best, in case you were wondering). But what no one realizes, because I still wear boots and sneakers a lot, is that my feet are very wide, thanks to my dad's side of the family, so it's extra hard to break in shoes and to avoid toe cleavage. Therefore, I have a pair of flip flops...and no other sandals. Now, considering that I'll probably be doing a lot of walking in a very hot region of the globe in approx. 5 days, my mom considered that I should probably have a pair of lightweight sandals. Enter, sandals of awesome:

Comfortable and wide enough for my gigantorwide feets. :) Happy ending, part deux.
 

All in all, it's been a fruitful day, full of revelations and footwear. To all those who are troubled in the search of the truth in things, remember this proverb: If you want to forget all your other troubles, wear too tight shoes.




*Sock credit: Kelsey Sakimoto, who doesn't like to wear socks.
** Link to sock tan