I Have Never Thought About Your Toes.

And I bet you have never thought about mine.

Unless you've seen them.

Or we talked about them.

I messed up my pinky toe real bad. I was playing frisbee and with my usual reckless style I slammed my foot into my friends heel. We were running after the disc, he had position, but I refused to give it up. He said to me, "you gotta give it up. I had position."

Truth.

But I run recklessly, son!

I've got to watch out for my body. I shouldn't just let myself go as hard as I do.

Last summer I hurt my ankle right as summer began, leaving me unable to run for two of the months of the summer. And the Seattle summer can be so short! How unfortunate.

Oh well.

I don't think that this will take a long time to heal. Although I am concerned because I have a strange red bruise. Oh well.

I took off my socks a minute ago and looked at it. I imagined myself going to work tomorrow. I thought about telling people about this weird redness on my injury. Like, deep, deep redness. It immediately struck me that it would be so strange to take my shoes and socks off at work. I would be sitting in the office. My manager would be there. Maybe another coworker. I would take my sock off and be like oh man.

The office air would feel so foreign to the skin of my foot. I would assure my manager that I was off the clock, so that I wouldn't be causing a health risk. Because feet are gross, of course. If I were to touch my foot I would have to wash my hands before I served someone food. Washington has very strict food service laws, after all.

The foot does not belong in the coffee shop. It belongs in the shoe that is in the coffee shop.

Then I started thinking about all my coworkers feet.

How silly feet are. And how silly it would be to see all my coworkers feet. All their toes, just like mine. Immediately I think of all of us on the beach. Because bare feet belong in the sand. At least in contact with the planet. Grass, dirt, sand, the rest of it.

Interestingly, when I hurt my foot I was playing frisbee barefoot on astroturf. Not quite Earthy material. But still very nice on the feet.

Until you slam your pinky toe into someone's heel at full speed.