My family

Family Stories Vlog

FEET

14 Dec 2016

I have this "thing" about feet.

I don't like them.  Shoe or sock covered feet are marginally OK, but bare feet give me the creeps.  Heck, even my OWN bare feet are ugly to me, so I wear socks 24/7.

I saw either a commercial or a scene from a TV show recently were there were two people in bed, one at one end and one at the other, and the guy at the foot of the bed was holding and kissing the feet of the woman at the head of the bed.  It was all I could do to keep from turning it off.

A friend gave me a pedicure many years ago and it just felt weird having someone cleaning my feet.

When I was a kid and went roller skating, ice skating or bowling and had to rent and wear shoes that had been worn by other people, it creeped me out.  My mother, who used to be a nut about shoes, always bought her shoes from the thrift wore where she volunteered and must have had 50 pairs of pre-worn shoes that she loved.  She never could understand why I couldn't think about wearing someone else's shoes.

Worst of all was when I was working for Dr. G and he got a bone density machine.  You can do a full body scan, which requires someone with some sort of medical training or you can do what is called a "heel density" exam, which involves manipulating someone's feet in this machine.  We had a regular tech to do the full body exams, but Dr. G assumed I would do the heel density exams.  Not much "touching" involved, but I absolutely hated doing it.  Bad enough handling my own feet, but handling the feet of strangers..... ewwww.

I always think of myself as an affectionate huggy person, but lately, with my mother, I realize that I'm not really.  When she had an anxiety attack recently, I sat on the couch with her, my arm around her shoulders and realized how foreign it felt  My mother and I never had a real physical relationship.  We are huggy, but it doesn't feel comfortable with me.

Someone I know has never ever been huggy.  Even when she hugs you, she's the only person I know that hugs you at arms length.

I love my kids and think I am physically affectionate with them, but rarely feel comfortable hugging most other friends.  There are exceptions, like Steve Schalchlin who is one big hug whenever you see him.

I love my grandkids and think I'm affectionate with them, but there will come an age, I assume, when they feel too old and I will feel awkward hugging them.  I haven't had to deal with their feet.  When they were babies, sure.  Baby feet are fun to play with, but there is an age that I can't define, but there is an age when I no longer like touching their feet.  Same is true for dogs.  Puppy toes are fun to kiss, big dogs, not so much!

As for borrowing someone else's shoes or looking in a thrift store for shoes, I repeat, "ewww" !  It helps that my feet are so large (10-1/2 ww) that I often can't find shoes to fit me in a shoe store, let alone just happen upon a pair that someone had worn before.