I am a shoe junkie. (I’m also a brownie junkie, but that’s another post for another day.) It’s an addiction that I’ve been able to curtail over the past two to three years, but every time I pass a shoe store I start to break out in a sweat and I have to call my Shoes Anonymous mentor.

So I guess it’s only natural that when I saw the Young Women’s lesson was about Our Purpose in Life, I thought of comparing our unique talents and abilities to shoes. My plan is to set up some shoes on the table as a display, then talk about how, though each pair of shoes is different, it has its own purpose to help me in my life. Then I’ll point out how each person is important in the Lord’s eternal plan and has a unique role…I think you get the gist.

I was sitting in a really boring lecture yesterday that was supposed to take 20 minutes but ended up going for an hour and 15 minutes (not exaggerating) and I came up with this poem that illustrates my point. I'm going to print out a copy for all of the girls.

The Worth of a Sole (by Michelle S. Clark)
Within my lovely closet
There are several pairs of shoes:
High heels, boots, and flippy flops
In browns, reds, blacks, and blues

Some shoes were made for dancing,
Others were made to run.
A few are perfect for Sunday church,
And some I wear for fun.

My slippers might feel bad
Because they are so plain,
And wearing them to church
Would go against the grain.

But when my feet are tired
And my body is distressed,
Nothing beats the comfort of
My slippers when I rest.

The role in life they play
Is unique to every shoe.
Each has a special part
Without which I could not do.

Heavenly Father looks at us,
His daughters down on earth,
Each unique and treasured
From the moment of our birth

At times we might feel small.
We look at others and compare.
But within God’s eternal plan
We’ve talents we can share.

Just like I cherish every sole
Of every shoe of mine,
Each daughter’s soul is precious
In our Father’s grand design.

But, forget the lesson for a sec. If I were to be a shoe, this is the one I would want to be:

This shoe rocks. It's Briar Rose meets Cinderella, and I want it. Of course, even though the worth of a soul is priceless, you CAN put a price on a sole, which in this case is $28,000. Ouch!

Mike is the ward mission leader for our ward, and as such he has to give the lesson about once a month. His turn to teach was this morning. Subject: agency. I walked into the Sunday School room and Mike had written this on the board:It's a picture of "Dean" choosing whether or not to exert his free agency by jumping into the whirlpool. Those two things on the lower right part of the pond? I thought they were fish or lily pads, but Mike just informed me that they are the eyes of the crocodiles waiting to eat the hapless Dean should he wander into their end of the pool...

I had to laugh because "Dean" happens to be Mike's alter ego. If there is mischief to be made, "Dean" does it. Mike's told me that if anything comes out of his mouth that hurts my feelings, it was really Dean who said it. All behavior that is dorky, naughty, or otherwise in questionable taste, it's Dean rearing his rascally head.

No one could figure out why I was laughing so hard at the perilous saga of Dean through the lesson. It was a terrific lesson though, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of it at the end.

First Impressions

On Martin Luther King Day last year, Mike and I went on our first date. (See blog entry dated 9/16/10.) Actually, whether or not it's our actual first date is up for debate. I went with the mindset that Mike had told me about hiking at Ape Caves as a fun singles activity. He went with the mindset that he wanted to get to know me better and spend some one-on-one time together. He subliminally convinced me his idea was better by a huge smile and an awesome hug when I got out of the car. The memory of that first impression makes me smile every time.

But speaking of first impressions, yesterday, Mike and I went to meet his new home teaching family after church. He hasn't been assigned a partner yet so I've been filling in. We took over some muffins and had a lovely visit. Afterwards, he and I walked out the door, followed by the family. As we made our way down the stairs, I felt a little, well, breezy. I felt my back and realized that my entire zipper from stem to stern had split wide open. My first thought was, "How embarrassing!" My second thought was, "How long has it been like that?!?" Because I had not only arrived late to Sunday School and sat at the front, I had later taught the lesson to the entire Young Women.

When Mike could stop laughing, he assured me that there's no way that the zipper was split open at church, because someone would have commented on it. That provided me some peace of mind until this morning, when I was cleaning up some things and saw one of my old driver's licenses--the one where there's a piece of broccoli in between my two front teeth. I got that picture taken at the very end of the day--just before the DMV closed. I'd had broccoli salad for lunch about 6 hours before that. During the course of the afternoon, I had met with friends, worked at the office, gone to a class, and greeted the DMV lady and no one--no one--had mentioned the fact that there was a huge green mass lodged between my teeth. Not sure if they were embarrassed or polite or just thought I wanted it that way.

Anyway, I had to live with that picture until just recently and I'm going to have to live with the mortification of a first impression where I revealed more of myself than I intended.

Mr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde

Last Tuesday was a looooong day at work and I came home exhausted. I had felt fine driving home from work but the second I walked into the garage, I kid you not, it was like a light switch flipped and all of a sudden I felt tired and hungry and instead of handling it like a mature person and grabbing something to eat really quickly, I got grumpy. Seriously. Like a two-year-old who missed his nap, I turned into a total Cranky Pants.

Mike was so excited to see me when I walked in and all I could give him were subdued answers and a cursory hug and kiss as I was walking up the stairs. He’s getting really good at picking up my moods, though. All he said was, “You seem like you need to rest.” Yes, I did. Thirty minutes lying down and I sat up all smiles and sunshine and was fine for the rest of the evening. Poor Mike. He did not sign up for the Jekyll and Hyde switcheroo at the altar.

So I'm going to I'm trying to keep this behavior to a minimum, because Mike deserves a normal wife. When I get into these moods, I'm going to make my way of handling it be to smile and do chores. Or go jogging. Or finish up some crafts, which is what I really need to do. I have a thousand projects I've purchased, only a fraction that I've started, and even fewer that I've completed. These crafts form piles in our library, bedroom, kitchen, and garage.

Here's the Michelle Method of Craft Completion:
---1- Buy project
---2- Invest $$$ in supplies needed to complete project
---3- Arrange project and supplies for easy access
---4- Leave project sitting out
---5- At this point, you have two options:
------a. Realize you're just too busy right now and put it away
------b. Keep looking at it and feel guilty for not getting to it
---6- Allow 2 weeks to 2 decades to pass
---7- Find project accidentally and realize it should be done
---8- At this point, you have three options:
------a. Give it to your mother or a friend to finish
------b. Throw or give away
------c. Go nuts as you finish it yourself

One day, I'll see if I can pull some Jekyll and Hydeness in the direction of 8c and work on diminishing the piles. In the meantime, I think I'll grab a cookie and take a nap.