When I was hiking with my friend on the first day we were away, I noticed my boots were sticky. They had been sticky in the room, but I wasn't too concerned, but as we walked down a dirt road looking at cows and whit elk, it seemed there were a lot of pebbles wedged in in the grid of my soles. When I stopped and lifted my boot to look, and attempted to pry some debris out, the sole came off in chunks. By the time we'd returned to the room, one sole was gone, with just the black part between my sock and the ground, and the other sole was lumpy and peeling. I carefully took them off outside and sat down on the bed to figure out what to do. I couldn't walk ten miles the next day in my Danskos, They haven't the ankle support and the heel can make me wobbly. I put the problem out of my mind and enjoyed the evening, and the next morning, a beautiful morning it was, I said to my friend I was going to buy some boots, so our plan wasn't derailed, if there was any shoe store close. I asked the desk person, and sure enough, five miles away there was a general store that carried some shoes. After breakfast we drove over, I picked two styles, they were out of my size in the first and I bought the second, changed into them in the store, and walked out with the problem solved.
The boots worked great on the hike, which was glorious, and without wasting more than fifteen minutes I have new boots, and the price wasn't even unreasonable. What I'm proud of is not letting the boots upset or spoil my mini-vacation. And not soldiering through with the wrong shoes and my feet hurting. And not giving up on the walk we were looking forward to. And not thinking about it all night. And not feeling sorry for myself or generalizing. Just looking at life's little surprise and rolling with the punches.
This sounds trivial, I know, but for me, it signals a new calmness and fluidity I've worked hard to experience. Hopefully, eventually it will be a skill I can use for the big surprises as well.
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