Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

My house isn't the kindest place for bare feet. Or feet in slippers, which is where my feet are most of the time. Some of the floors are more than happy to donate splinters. Getting out of the shower, I got poked in the sole, and as I hopped and swore, I wondered, "Why are there so many nerve endings in the arch of the foot when that just seems like begging for pain?"

Instantly I remembered my worst fall from a tree: it was the weeping willow in my family's back yard after a rain storm, (I think I was going to check on the treehouse or something) and somebody pointed out that the branches would be slippery, so I'd better put on shoes. Mistake. If I'd been able to feel my footing, I wouldn't have fallen. Rubber soles might provide more friction, but they diminish feedback. (They're also the wrong shape, but anyhow...)

So the parts of us that get slammed againt the ground with force and are vulnerable to picking up pointy things hard are so sensitive because we used to climb trees.

Dammit, now I want to go find a tree, but a) that's probably not a good thing to do to my knee right now, and b) I really need to get out the door to get to a music store and then this gig in Southern Maryland.

(My second-worst fall from a tree was when I was trying to get away from other kids who were chasing me at school. I fell from much higher up, in an evergreen, but landed on ground-ivy three feet deep. I didn't quite bottom out those natural springs.)