What I Got Done This Morning And A Musing

I managed to get in application in at the Family Resource center which is diagonal from my house. Supposedly, it'll be good for a year before I'd have to reapply.  I also took some recyclables over to the college campus.

I was going to go over to Doggie Bag to see if a certain pair of slip-on shoes was still available, but by the time I got done with my business at the college, it started to rain, so it seemed best to go straight home. I'll probably try again on Friday.

The reason for the slip-on shoes is so that I'd have something to put on to check the mail, help carry something in, etc. without feeling like said shoes need to remain on for a substantial amount of time in order to justify my putting them on in the first place (as has been the case with the typical tennis shoes or any other type of shoe with laces, buckles, etc.). I used to dress all the way to real shoes every single day regardless of whether or not I had any business calling me beyond the front door, let alone off the property. Nowadays, I limit putting on real shoes to if I anticipate going outside or somewhere else or performing select tasks in which real shoes are needed for safety purposes; otherwise, I'll usually wear my white satin ballet slippers or a pair of blue flip-flops which have a fuzzy detail at the v-strap.

Don't ask me how I came up with this idea, but for me, putting on "real" shoes for the most part is symbolic of preparing to face the outside world (of which even other people's homes appears to be an extension; for that reason, in my family at least, more often than not, regardless of what the host/hostess wear or don't wear on their feet, guests remain in whatever shoes they came in).  I think that's why, if I plan on going somewhere, I will put the shoes on just as soon as possible rather than wait until the minute it's time to go. And taking them off when I'm going to be in the house for only a few minutes or am going in to grab something? Forget it, especially if the shoes are of the lace-up variety.

I realize some people do not allow shoes in their own homes. In fact, I know there are parts of the world where wearing shoes inside a private home is a no-no in most if not all cases. (Whether or not slippers take their place varies from culture to culture.) My mom and stepdad had talked about possibly having a "shoes-off" rule at some point, but I have yet to see any steps taken toward that. (And I'm the lowest ranking member of the household, so for me to instigate it, even if I was able to completely accept the concept without question, is out.) For the time being, there are times when I wear shoes at home, but it's to a lesser extent than what I used to. Even if never wearing shoes inside kept outside dirt, germs, etc., at bay, there's no promise that the floor will be pristine. However, one of my main reasons for limited at home shoe wearing is the fact that whatever incidental walking occurs outside the home tends to take its toll on the shoes themselves, and wearing them around the house would wear them out even more. Another thing is that if one's shoes (and sometimes even socks depending on cut, material, and even condition of the shoes) become wet from rain or snow, they're not generally all that comfortable to wear anyway.

What I think I will do when/if I get my own place will be to wear slippers whenever possible, and have at least one pair of shoes near the door so that any guests who want to take their shoes off as well can do so without feeling like they are doing something inappropriate.