There are a few things that I never forget to do in my morning routine. Shower. Brush my teeth. Brush my hair. Put on pants and a shirt. You know, the basics. Putting on shoes makes that list too. It is so normal, so essential, so common that I just don't even think about doing it. It just... happens. That's why Thursday morning was so weird for me. I woke up. Showered. Brushed my teeth. Brushed my hair. Put on pants and a shirt. And then... went to school.
Wait. What?
Despite all the trappings of my usual routine, Thursday was a new experience. For me and millions of other people, Thursday was a day without shoes. Other than that, it was a completely normal day. Don't believe me? I'll walk you through a day in the life of Kristen D. Get it? Walk you through it? I know. Comic genius.
Here I am putting coins in the meter at school.
Isn't Michigan Law School beautiful? Such magnificent tiling.
Here I am in Jurisdiction. Great professor, 8am class. It balances out.
Next stop, Religious Liberty. Amen.
I took a pitstop on the way home.
Mostly just to show y'all the delightful tiling.
Ooh, and here's me driving home from school.
My garage floor is atrocious.
...and then I remembered that it was trash day...
Frozen. Driveway walking. Trash Day.
My carpet felt like a thousand baby teddy bears massaging my feet.
Pictured: Heaven. My toes are in... Heaven.
This is from my stealth ops at Kroger.
And of course, I had to go visit the puppies.
That night was party time. Here I am at Ozzie's apartment.
Like I said guys. Party time.
And that was a typical day in the life for me. Well, it wasn't entirely typical. In fact, pretty much every decision I made was altered by my lack of shoes. It started with the very first thing I did in the morning. See, I have a parking spot. Its about three blocks away from the law school, which is usually considered a prime location. But, here's the thing...
...its three blocks of this...
Let me put it in perspective for you. I know I'm tender. I am a delicate freaking flower compared to how tough those kids growing up without shoes must be. See, three blocks is a tiny fraction of the distance a lot of kids have to walk to school every day without shoes. I didn't think about how hard that had to be until I got out of the car and felt the roughness of the sidewalk under my feet. A surface designed to be walked on was painful without shoes on.
The stone floors of the law school that I've so adored for the last two and a half years were ice cold and suddenly became uninviting. The industrial carpet in Jurisdiction was a welcome respite from all the other hard surfaces that wore out the balls of my feet. By far the most surprising thing about my time at school was how cold I was. I don't usually need to wear a coat in the building or feel uncomfortable. But the whole time I was in class, all I could think about was how cold my feet were. I can't imagine anyone could concentrate on learning when they're as uncomfortable as I was.
When I got home and realized it was garbage day, I was filled with a sense of dread. I have a medium length driveway, but it was only 40 degrees outside. By the time I got back to my garage from the end of the driveway, two of my toes had gone numb. Is this what people deal with every day of their lives? I wanted the day to be over so I could put shoes on and it wasn't even noon yet. Although, I will say, there was never a feeling so rapturous as wrapping my feet in that quilt when I sat down for lunch.
Now, by far the best part, was my ninja mission into Kroger. I learned long ago that if you walk around like you know what you're doing, most people will assume you do and leave you alone. That is not the case when you walk barefoot into the produce section of Kroger. I immediately realized I'd been noticed when I walked in the door so I made a beeline for the tomatoes and straight back to the cash register. Shoes are so fundamental in this country that simply being without them in a public place draws immediate attention from those around us. The idea of someone never owning a pair of shoes in this country is almost inconceivable to people.
On Thursday I figured I would take a day without shoes on and write about this nice charity and isn't that sweet. By mid-afternoon, as I slunk out of Kroger feeling mildly like an outcast, I realized just how serious it is that people go without this basic necessity. One day going without was awful. I had to change around my patterns and activities completely to keep from walking on glass or freezing my toes. I couldn't walk into a store without being watched. I had to drive around to find parking or face certain trading over things that would cut and mangle my feet.
For anyone, especially a young child, to have to make their decisions not based on school or their family, but instead based on where there might be broken glass, is not something any society should stand for. But here's the bright side - its actually really easy to make a material difference. The company that sponsors the day without shoes is a store called TOMS and for every pair of shoes you or anyone else buys, they donate a pair to a child who doesn't have one. So, ya know, get on that. Like, now.
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