Notice
"A ship in a harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."
1)So I was walking along the road tonight, and a car came up behind me.
2)I pretended I was one of those elves in Mercedes Lackey's SERRAted edge books--the ones that don't like iron, or steel, or something, but they race anyway because their horses turn into cars at the track--and I ran away.
3)I didn't beat the car, of course, but running warmed me up a lot so I took my sandals off.
4)Then I came upon this puddle that was reflecting the moonlight, and I had to think about whether to jump in it or not.
5)Because the road wasn't cold, but I knew the water would be and once your feet get wet when the temperature's below freezing just forget warming them up again.
6)I jumped in the puddle anyway, but I did think about it first.
7)So I was dancing around on the water, watching the moon twist and ripple, and I was like, "Hey, I can't fall!"
8)Cause one of the cool things about still, shallow water is that when you stand in it and look down it looks like you're standing on the sky.
9)But while I was playing in this little puddle I realized that even though I was apparently standing in thin air I couldn't fall because my reflection was supporting me.
10)Everywhere my toes touched, my reflection's toes touched too, and even if I put my hand down my reflection's hand would catch me.
11)I was thinking about that as I walked back to the house, and I had to put my sandals on because the driveway's covered with ice and let's not be silly, here.
12)So I put my hands down to feel the footprints in the ice--it was slush earlier and it held the tracks really well--and I could see all the different treads from workboots and muckboots and hiking boots and of course my sandals.
13)But when I closed my eyes and just felt them, I couldn't even tell they were footprints, let alone what kind of shoe had made them.
14)I was like, "Wow, that must be what it's like to be deprived of a sense. You don't even know what you're not sensing."
15)But then I realized I look at footprints all the time, but I hardly ever touch them, so obviously I wouldn't be able to recognize them with my fingers.
16)It's not about what we have or don't have, it's about what we choose to use.
Run Away