Everyone who knows me knows that I am not a big fan of shoes. I will wear them when I have to, but once we get home, I get about three steps into the door before the shoes come off. I love to be barefoot, which is quite the contrast to my husband who wears shoes almost all day long, switching from work shoes to sneakers once he gets home, and leaving them on until bedtime.

After dropping my adopted stepson off at summer school this morning, my little guy and I had some running around to do. After going to a few stores and picking up what we needed, we headed home to get some housework done before we had to leave again to pick up my adopted stepson. My little monster and I walked in the front door, both took a few steps and at the same time we each put a hand on the corner of the wall for balance and off came our shoes.

I marveled at how the instinct was exactly the same for both of us. He has never been too fond of shoes himself, readily kicking them off whenever he walks into someone’s home, but it had never really sunk in just how much alike the two of us are when it comes to having shoes suffocating our feet. I looked down and smiled at my wedge sandals sitting next to his tiny little flip-flops and thought to myself “aren’t genetics amazing.”

Later in the day we loaded ourselves into the car once more to go and get my adopted stepson from his second to last day of summer school. We came home, and once again I was left in awe as both the boys walked in the house, walked upstairs, and simultaneously freed their feet from the confines of their shoes. Again the instinct was the same, only this time there was no genetic tie, even tucking them into the corner next to the couch, as I have done for more years now than I care to count. There is no rule in our home about shoes having to be off, we have mostly hard wood floors, which are easy to clean, so other people tromping through the house with shoes on is just fine with me.

I stood there gazing at the shoes, long after the boys had disappeared to their rooms, once again lost in thought, only this time, instead of thinking about genetics I found myself simply smiling as I thought, “isn’t family wonderful?” It doesn’t matter if it is genetics that make my boys have an utter dislike for their shoes, or if it is simply a learned behavior after watching me kick off my shoes at every opportunity that arises, I am just happy to have two wonderful boys who can appreciate the value of a bare foot!


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