Shoe Story

You know those babies with casts on their legs to fix some problem some doctor convinced their parents would cripple them for life? I was one of those, except with removable braces rather than permanent casts. I don’t remember those days of crying while my parents put their baby into some draconian contraption, but I am about the most claustrophobic person who ever lived, so maybe there’s a connection. After the braces, I entered the special shoe phase and that I definitely remember. Not for me were the cute little sandals and ballet flats other girls were lucky enough to wear straight home from the shoe store. Nope. Each school year I had to choose between two styles of ugly, sturdy oxfords and then wait a few weeks for them to get fitted with orthopedic soles that made them clunkier, chunkier, and indestructible. They were horrible and I hated them. And to make it worse, I never felt like they were helping--which, it turns out, was probably true. When Keilana came here with toes turned in like mine, I immediately bought into the parent panic and rushed her off to a specialist who told us that we have an inherited loose ligament condition which cannot be addressed by mechanical or even surgical means. We’re just different. We probably won’t be track stars, but we’ll lead pretty full lives otherwise. In David Small’s Imogene’s Antlers, one little girl wakes up looking different than all the other little girls. That happens sometimes.

http://www.amazon.com/Imogenes-Antlers-Reading-Rainbow-Books/dp/0517562421

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Small