random thoughts – Day 1,386 – (Tuesday) – boots and book

Day Two of the new calendar page and the first workday of the new year rolled in with sciatica. It had begun as a slight irritation on Sunday and felt more aggravated during the hiking on Monday when it crept further down the leg. By this morning, it was a full lower back to knee aggravated situation. Sitting was mildly uncomfortable but walking was worse.

My boots say I'm important.

Before logging in for work I took a minute to finally open the box that delivered from Amazon on Sunday while I was out of town for New Year’s Eve. I brought it inside on Monday and set it on the dining room table where it stayed until this morning. After breaching the outer cardboard box, the shoe box inside greeted me with “YOU ARE IMPORTANT.” 

The words are nice, but also kind of feel like a big lie based on things like career trajectory and cashflow. And I always feel like text in all caps is yelling at me, kind of like when Mom would address me by my full first, middle, and last names signifying she was really mad and I was about to catch hell. 

I already knew what was in the box, because it had been bought it in a rush late last week when I realized I had a $5 reward in a work program that needed to be used before the 31^st or forfeited. Never one to easily let free money go to waste and needing a receipt to receive the $5 reward, I had scrolled through Amazon. It didn’t take long to find a pair of lug sole Chelsea boots to replace a pair of boots that were loved and worn so much over several years that a hole was worn in one toe. The new boots had an appealing price ($27!) made even better knowing I’d receive $5 after submitting the receipt.

With the left sciatic nerve painfully making its presence known, I slipped on the new boots to check the fit. The boots feel great, so the day was getting off to a better start. The thicker lug sole and the heel make me feel tall, but not necessarily important like the declaration (lie) on the box. Oddly, in the heeled boots, the sciatic nerve felt less buggy so it was a pleasure and a comfort to keep them on all day.

No book club for me this month.

Around lunchtime there was a message about tonight’s Boozy Book Club meeting being changed due to a mix-up and our venue not being open. If it wasn’t enough of a bummer, my only standing social event is rescheduled for next Tuesday when I have another commitment at the same time. I only just finished the book, Tread of Angels, on Monday night and now I’ll have nobody to talk with about it. Boo hoo. 

After work, after rolling the empty trash bin from the street back up the driveway to the house, I swapped the still comfortable boots for the house slippers. The discomfort in the leg flared up almost immediately. So weird. In other weird anatomical discoveries, sitting crisscross applesauce on the couch feels better than sitting in the office chair or on the couch like a grownup. Whatever that means. It will be fun to see how it feels on Wednesday. Ok, maybe not "fun" but time will tell.