Friday, February 1, 2013

Totally normal

Yesterday on my walk to work my right bootlace broke. And, that pretty much sums up how the rest of the day went. Nothing major and dramatic, but full of small irritations.
I checked around the house for a spare shoelace last night but didn't find anything that would work. So, no big deal. When I was getting ready for work this morning I decided that, since it's warmed up so much the last few days (about 60 degrees!) I'd be fine wearing my "winter" Dansko clogs. They've got rubber soles so they're not as bad on the ice as my other ones. I've worn them plenty of times and, mostly, they're fine.
Except when it's this cold. Apparently I over-estimated the temperature because it's still cold enough to freeze rubber. Don't worry, I wore two pairs of socks so my feet were totally warm. But thanks to the ice leftover from the freezing rain a few weeks ago, the dusting of snow on top which we got yesterday, and the frozen rubber of my shoes, I had to do an odd shuffle instead of just walking. I nearly fell so many times but by the time I thought, "This was a really bad idea," it was too late to turn back. So I soldiered on, being very careful and moving more like a cross country skier than someone walking.
And then I reached the hill. It's a popular sledding hill, so while there is a bit of a path carved by me and others who walk, there isn't exactly any level ground so even on the best of days it's tough going. And, it's been worn mostly smooth by all the sledders packing down the snow. I was stepping really carefully, placing my feet before putting weight on them so that I didn't fall over. I made it almost to the top, where there's a fence and the assurance that at least I wouldn't tumble fifty feet back down the hill. Ten feet away from the fence, I started slipping backwards. I fell, got up, fell again, and while I was trying to hold myself up I just kept slipping further and further away from where I needed to be. I debated just clawing and crawling my way back to the top but decided that was too undignified. (Because, apparently, I wasn't already undignified?) When I stood mostly upright I ended up using my purse as a weight to help throw myself up the hill and that worked. I made it to the top with only one or two more small slips.
After I rounded the fence and felt secure again all I could think was, normal people don't have these problems.
And that about sums up my life.

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