Why We Don't Wear Shoes...

I grew up in a house where we always took off our shoes when we first entered the house. I never thought anything of it. It was just something we did, and most of my friends did the same, so it was never an issue. Oh, sure, there were always a few people we had to remind, and a few houses where people told me I didn't have to, but ... it was kinda normal.

Even now, most of my friends take off their shoes inside. (Then again, we have a next door neighbor who wears no shoes at all throughout the neighborhood whenever the thermometer hits 50 degrees, but that's extreme in the other direction!)

Then we have my in-laws. When they visit - and they rarely do - they don't take off their shoes in my house. We ask them to each time. We've bought them slippers to wear in our house. And they still have to be asked each and every time. And then they ignore us and wear their shoes inside anyway.

But that's not the point today.

In their house, they also wear their shoes inside. When we visited in October, they had that thick industrial plastic laid across their living room in a "t" pattern (if only I'd taken a picture of it). They told us their carpet was getting too dirty, and they wanted to protect it.

Be proud of me. I bit my tongue and didn't say a word. I think it's still bruised.

We were there for Thanksgiving, and I realized again what a difference it makes when you wear shoes inside. (Ok, granted, some of this may be due to my mother-in-law's imperfect housekeeping, which explains why my feet sorta stick to the floors when I walk sometimes.

These are my socks after I've worn them in my house all day long:



This photo doesn't do it justice unfortunately (it's worse than it looks), but these are my socks after spending three hours in my in-law's house.



Ewww.