STEPS
Feet are strange yet incredibly remarkable. With 26 bones, 33 joints and over 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the human foot it’s hard not to marvel at their character. From time-to-time I observe the bones in my feet and the way they move when I plant my foot. Or, sometimes I like to watch how my tendons and muscles tighten and relax as I move my toes. I take special notice to the callouses and the marks numbering the years of running barefoot outside as a kid. l recount all the the trauma they’ve endured - the stubbed toes, the sharp objects stepped on, the bone I broke as a kid (twice), the rolled ankles, the things I’ve dropped on them, the things I’ve kicked, and the times they’ve been bitten by frost. They’ve endured a lot, and together the pair tells a story.
I don’t remember my first steps as an infant, but I can imagine that precious moment (and to my parents excitement, or perhaps horror realizing that I could now move on my own volition) when my brain finally made that primal connection with those tiny muscles, allowing me to move forward (rather uncoordinatedly) into space. To step into a type of freedom - a freedom to explore and discover.
It was the following steps that allowed me to fall flat on my face and learn to get back up and keep moving forward. There would be the one too many steps taken, or steps taken too fast where I learned to stop or slow down. There were certainly steps that allowed me to learn the consequences of not paying attention to where I was going. And above all, there were the steps that helped me explore new surfaces and terrain, each providing feedback to what hurt, what was sufferable, or what was comfy. Each step allowed me to move forward - forward in pursuit of dreams and desires, goals and aspirations.
Step-by-step, oh how awe-inspiring it is to think of all the places my feet have taken me: the good and the bad; the regrettable and the memorable; so much beautiful and sometimes horrible. All different types of surfaces they’ve explored - the polished stones of mountain streams, the pine needles and twigs of a forest floor, soft sand of ocean shores, or boulders on the mountain side. To think of all of the miles they’ve carried me, refusing to let me quit, to keep going despite how treacherous life may be is beyond belief.
When I look down at my feet and look upon the layers of landscape behind me or see the endless terrain ahead of me, I can’t help but be humbled - humbled to think these 10 little toes and 2 feet have taken me everywhere. And to know they will continue to help me learn, to explore and see the world, and to help me walk out dreams and desires is everything plus a journey I’m eager to take, no matter how far it may be - as long as my feet will keep taking me there.
