Toesday

It's finally warm enough to shed our socks around here.  Check out the sock kicked off at the bottom of the slide (at right) for proof!  This obervation is the bigger picture of our weather right now, though, seeing as Colorado has snow in the forecast for tomorrow! But we've put away the snow boots and I'm not digging them back out, doggone it!  We are ready to wiggle our toes in the grass, even if our tootsies turn blue digging through the snow to get to it.  After eight months of bondage in socks and laced-up shoes and boots,  our feet cry for freedom! Huzzah! for sandals, and flipflops, and little bare feet!  

To the front of the cupboards now come the summertime supplies for our long-neglected winter toes: toenail polish, clippers, foot lotion, etc -- but more importantly -- bandaids, antibiotic cream, and tweezers for stepped-on stickers and stubbed toes. And we've already put the footy-first-aid to use.  Anna had a toe so abused from a stub this past weekend, she had no choice but to wear white stockings with her white sparkly sandals on First Holy Communion Day to cover it up. Such a sweet, delicate thing, our Anna, she told me matter-of-factly, "Yeah, I took a good chunk of meat out of it."  Ew. Sweet little thing.  Can you tell she has six brothers? (The pic at the top left there is William's silky smooth little foot, not Anna's chewed up one, btw.  And the toesies below-right, with the pink anklet are Cathy's.)

But Anna's toe has not been the only casualty thus far this season:  Dan was playing basketball with the young people a few weeks ago and somehow or another managed to smash both of his big toes.  They both turned extraordinary colors of black and blue until he finally lost the toenail on one of them a couple of days ago. He's now wearing socks with his summertime sandals.  Ew.  (Don't worry, I wouldn't post a picture of Dan's feet.  The bald toe and the socks-with-sandals thing are both gross, but at least he wears white socks and not black...)  Anyway, Dan can sympathize with second Son, Kevvy, who was playing football barefoot the other day and sprained his big toe. He's limping, but OK.   Goodness sakes, though...  We're not even half-way through May yet and it's open season on feet!  Sheesh. 

But, cool and happy and free of their bonds our tootsies skip with joy in between the accidents.  It's worth it.  I guess.

But, on the subject of toes, here's a bit of trivia for ya:

Have you ever noticed how many people in your family have the second toe longer than the first toe?  (Unlike Gabe's toes to the left there.) This has often been a subject for comment and discussion around here.  When I was a teenager, some boy tried flirting with me by telling me that my feet proved I was bee-u-tee-ful because my second toes were longer than my first, and thus my feet were "Greek"  (like the beautiful Athena), as opposed to "Roman" (as in: not like the beautiful Athena).  Yeah, whatever.  I didn't fall for the flattery then.  But, I looked it up this morning out of curiosity and found that there is, indeed, a  sort of scientific mythology about toes; there truly is a toe configuration called Greek "atavisim." And, as it turns out, Greek toes have an official scientific name: Morton's Toes. Check out what I found at Wikipedia:

 It (the second-longer-toe foot shape) has a long association with disputed anthropological and ethnic interpretations. Morton called it Metatarsus atavicus, considering it an atavism recalling prehuman grasping toes. In statuary and shoe fitting it has been called the Greek foot (as opposed to the Egyptian foot, where the great toe is longer). A longer second toe has often been associated with royalty, particularly during the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty when Egypt was under Greek rulership. It was an idealized form in Greek sculpture, and this persisted as an aesthetic standard through Roman and Renaissance periods and later (the Statue of Liberty has toes of this proportion). There are also associations found within Celtic groups. However, the amount of people within the Greek ethnic group who exhibit Morton's toe exceeds 95%. It has often been used as a means of hereditary identification, as it is a dominant trait feature among those of Greek heritage. The French call it commonly pied grec (just as the Italians call it piede greco), but sometimes pied ancestral or pied de Néanderthal.

Fascinating, huh?  So, I do have Greek toes!  The kid had at least one thing right.  And, though, I would never be called beautiful, I do at least have something in common with the Statue of Liberty -- and 95% of the Greek population.  And, though a common ancestry is ridiculous,  it would seem that we Greek-toed people may also have something in common with apes.  Just as plausible as naming them "Greek toes," we could call our funny feet "Monkey Toes."

For the record, in our family of twelve:
My toes are Greek, Dan's are Egyptian (Not actually Roman, like my flirter called them.)
Paul's are Egyptian
Kevvy's are Greek (and really weird because his 3rd toe is also longer than his first toe)
Jon's are Egyptian
Dominic's are Greek
Michelle is also weird, bless her: one foot is Egyptian, the other Greek (We love ya, anyway, Shell...)
Theresa's are Egyptian
Cathy's are Greek
Anna's are Greek
Gabey's are Egyptian
William's are Egyptian
and our newest daughter (in-law), Nicole's, are: Neither Greek nor Egyptian, because her first and second toes are just the same size.  Maybe they're Italian, since that is her heritage. :)

* So, if you count both Michelle and Nicole as half points in each category, the family is exactly split between Greek and Egyptian toes.  The most interesting thing you've found out today, right?  (gglggl)

* Can't wait to see what our Grandbaby's feet look like!  We'll have to wait 'til late next fall to find out, but you know I'll post pictures.

*Go figure, the worldwide web has a site dedicated to toes.  Just toes.  You're not surprised are you?