Showing posts with label podiatrist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label podiatrist. Show all posts

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Foot almost in mouth disease

Sometimes that little bird on your shoulder can be very smart, very prescient. Sometimes I have not listened and ended up embarrassed or ashamed. Sometimes I have listened and been very grateful. Enormously grateful in fact.

About twenty five years ago I had to have minor surgery on my foot, and no, it was not to remove it from my mouth. But I almost put it there afterwards.

While waiting in an examination room in my podiatrist's office for a follow up visit after the surgery I began looking over the several paintings in the room and man, they were awful. I'm no kind of artist, but those paintings were terrible; worse than a six year old doing a paint by number terrible. Worse than your first grader's stuff that you proudly put on the fridge. I sat studying the artwork, all the while thinking of the insults I'd make about them to whomever I saw next. Yet the little bird told me to be careful what I said.

Soon enough a nurse entered. "Those are some paintings," I began. It was intended a prelude to mockery. Yet it also gave me a moment to gauge things.

"Aren't they?" the nurse replied, beaming. "Doctor Lewis's father made every one of them!"

"Ah," I answered back. "That's really cool." And I left it at that. But I've thanked that little bird every time since that I've thought of the occasion.