smiling my way into the weekend

Picture this:  It's about 10:30pm on a really cold January night. Steve is ready for bed and watching TV on the couch. I open the fridge door to grab a bottle of water and realize that we're out of milk.  "Oh man. We don't have any milk for the morning. We have to run to the store tonight."  Steve grumbles back, "We means me, right?"

He pulls on jeans over his scrubs, grabs a parka that would be sufficient for the Iditarod and slips his flip-flops on with his wooly socks. He hates being cold. I look down at his thick sock-fitted toes trying to force their way around the flip-flop toe separator and shriek! I'm good with socks and Crocs, Berks, you name it, the groovier the better. There's just something unnatural about socks and flip-flops. 

I cried, "What a minute! You'll freeze." I made a beeline for the bedroom and grab his Uggs. He rolled his eyes and put them on. 

Now, picture this: I drove to Austin yesterday to do a parenting lecture (shout out to the great folks at St. Andrew's Episcopal School). When I left Houston it was 67 degrees. I wore cargo pants and flip-flops. I brought a pair of pumps for my lecture. When I woke up in Austin this morning it was 39 degrees. I had no choice. I wore my flip-flops home with my sleeping socks. Not cute socks, sleeping socks. Have you ever seen anything so terrible?

It was cracking me up so much that I decided to take a picture of my freakish footwear while I was in the drive-thru line at Starbucks in Austin. I put my foot up on the dashboard and clicked. About that time, I realized the taxicab in front of me had pulled waaaaay up and someone honked. I got all discombobulated, my slippery sock foot slipped out of the flip-flop that was holding down the brake pedal and I gently tapped the taxi. Photography is hazardous. Don't you know I was looking supercool.

A couple of other sweet moments that are ushering in the weekend:

Jennifer Niesslen's piece in the Washington Post - "Take This Advice and Shelve It!

Discovering Patti Digh's blog, 37 Days and following one of her links to find Tracy Chapman singing one of my very favorite songs with Pavarotti.

 

Have a great weekend!  

Comments

[Optimist]

Brene - I love that song - and the two of them together - wow...
Loved meeting you yesterday at Book Club! I felt very hopeful watching our girls connect and share. I was imagining the future, and how nice it would be for my daughter to have some "older" (3rd grade!) friends who might help pave her way into Lanier and beyond...
I have to admit that after viewing your blog, I am feeling some shame (!) about my tiny little blog. The best thing about mine is the blogroll!
I am feeling inspired though and will continue to try and find my blogging voice.

See you soon! Bonnie

[amber]

Found you through Jen Lemen. The video really touched my soul (to tears, literally). I hope that one day when my children are older, I'll be able to share the love and hope in our community.

I also laughed out loud when I read this post on socks w/flip flops. I think it's pretty dorky myself yet yesterday I found myself wearing socks w/my flip flop houseshoes. That is until I spilled cheese dip all over myself at dinner but that's another story :-)

[Angela WD]

You know, socks and flip flops are a very Japanese thing. THey actually wear special sock with a notch for the thong. See, you're so cosmopolitan!

[Julia]

Hi Brenne
I LOVE the socks and flip-flops, but what is really cool is taking a picture of your foot in the car! I would do that and my kids would love me for it...