A Carefree Evening

I lost a shoe the other night. It was one of those moments that completely confused me.

Four of my friends decided to carpool with me to a celebration event. Three piled in the back seat, Todd took on the chauffeur role, and the other climbed in beside me in the front seat. Five women, one truck. Todd is a brave man.

I took my flip flops off when I got into the truck. When we arrived at our destination, I found one and put it back on. The other was gone. Three of us searched the truck. No shoe!

My only thought was that it had fallen out at our meeting spot. Hours passed, and as we left in the brisk night air, another of my friends walked barefoot with me to the truck. Not only was it a nice gesture, but she was just too tired at this point to actually walk in her heels.

Actually, they all agreed to walk with just one shoe when we arrived — just to make me feel more comfortable. That’s a bunch of good friends, sacrificing to make others feel okay with their problems.

We had a girl’s night out. Todd only dropped us off and picked us up. It was so needed. I can’t remember the last time I just decided to forget about all of the things that are waiting for me to do. It seems as soon as one task is complete that another is looming. Sometimes it feels as if it is yelling, “What about me .... did you forget about me ... when will you finish?”

It’s like laundry. Almost as soon as you take the empty baskets back after spending hours washing, drying, folding, and putting away; dirty clothes are already waiting.

It’s like dishes. As soon as you finish and walk away, you can almost certainly return to a few dirty ones in the sink (put there by no one knows who) or you’ll find some left in another room (again, by no one knows who).

Dusting is another one of those areas. I think dust just floats in the air and lands back in the same spot as soon as the rag leaves it.

But it isn’t just household chores. Work, school — it’s all the same. Finish a project, another is waiting. Whatever happened to a break!

Usually, I only experience these moments of not worrying about things when barreling though mud holes in the woods on a four-wheeler. This was a completely different experience (and produced much less dirty clothes).

About 15 of my girlfriends gathered at a friend’s house. We talked. We laughed. We played games. We had fun. Even in a shoeless state, it didn’t matter. Thank God for those moments of good friends and good times.

As for the shoe, I found it when we returned to their vehicles. As my friends climbed back into their cars for drives home, I found my flip flop upside down on the blacktop — just where it fell out of the truck. No harm done. I had to laugh.

Maybe tonight when I finish that pile of dishes I left in the sink, and begin to fold all of the laundry that I washed and dried (but never finished), I’ll just wear one shoe in memory of a carefree evening.