Foot Notes

So the other day I was sitting in my living room not doing much of anything in particular despite having much to do, when I received a text from my brother asking me to send him a picture of my feet.

This is not something that happens every day.

In fact, I cannot recall the last time that my brother asked for a picture of my feet, or indeed the last time anyone else asked me for such a picture either.  Very few people are even aware that I have feet as far as I know, at least in any specific sense beyond a general “well he must, mustn’t he?” kind of way, and fewer still want documentary proof.

I thought about this request.

Mostly I thought that somebody must have hacked my brother’s phone and was now making odd requests of everyone on his contact list, and that at some point in the near future we would all sit down and compare notes.  This would probably involve adult beverages.

Then my brother sent me a photo of his feet, which under normal circumstances I might have considered strange but which in this particular instance I found reassuring.  Whatever weirdness was going on was Acceptable Family Weirdness, which always covers a lot of ground.

So I sent him a picture of my feet, even though I noted that he really should buy me dinner first.  “We both know I don’t need to buy you dinners,” he responded.

Well, point taken, but still.  Dinners are nice.

It turned out that my niece was working on a project of her own design, one that involved collecting photos of all of the extant feet of my dad's direct descendants.  Tabitha and Lauren had already sent theirs.  Thanks to the fact that I had digitized all of the old family photos a few years ago I was able to locate a photo or two of my dad’s feet as well, so I sent those along.

She had the complete set.

I didn’t think too much about this after having sent along all of the various photos because some things you just accept at face value (or feet value, I suppose) and then move on with your life rather than dwell on them too much.  Okay.  This is my life now.

A few days later I got a photo of the finished project: a handsome throw pillow with all of our feet printed out in color in nice neat rows.  It was a birthday present for my nephew, apparently. 

I can’t even describe how much I love this project.  It’s twisted and creative and clever and it pretty much made my day.

I love my family.