Jewells of Thought

Not long after Aunt Carol died, we had the Estate Sale on Grandma’s house. My cousin decided to find new homes for some of her Mom’s shoes and sandals. One of them really worked out well for me a pair of her sandals. They were absolutely more comfortable than I ever thought they could be for sandals.

Growing up I had learned I really couldn’t wear flip flops or sandals. My flat-feet just, they wouldn’t work right for me if I was standing or walking for long periods of time. So I rarely used them, tennis shoes, were my standard footwear. Yet my shock when I would forget what I was wearing when I had these sandals on floored me over and over again.

Just a year ago on a little vacation to Little Nashville, I mostly wore those sandals and felt amazing. I even forgot to put my cream on one of those days and it didn’t seem to make a difference. I was stunned. I cannot put into words how I have felt such immense pain at times and to be wearing sandals and not have pain was such a game changer for me.

Fast forward to last Wednesday. My sandals have slowly begun to nearly make me fall because the sandals were physically falling apart. This particular day was extremely difficult to wear them and I didn’t realize they had come to the end of the road literally. I had troubles in the parking lot of McDonald’s just minutes earlier and then increasingly had more troubles as I tried to walk into Wal-Mart. I nearly fell walking into the store so we decided I needed to find a cheap pair of sandals to get home with.

Fortunately for me the clearance aisle had $1.00 sandals. However, it didn’t take long to realize they would not be able to work long term if I wanted to walk in these sandals for longer than a brief trip. So Mom and I found the same brand “Clarks” at JCPenney the brand of my aunt’s sandals. I was extraordinarily happy to see them last Thursday. However, I didn’t get them until Monday of this week.

Have you had that feeling where you lose your favorite shoes or sandals in this case? I wasn’t sure how to find the same brand and it just happened that we saw them the day after. It was perfect timing. The other $1.00 sandals are just too hard and gave my left foot a sore in a short time. If it hadn’t been for Mom wanting to look at JCPenney that day and just having enough time to do so the sandals would have been forgotten in the craziness of the party and the assassination and 9/11 thoughts and activities.

I treasured those sandals because they were a connection to my aunt. Then I would have had to change my patterns a bit and wear more tennis shoes more. Then it was that afternoon just about 3 pm here when I got the first messages from Telegram of a shooting. Then I really felt like I had lost my footing when the rumors confirmed that Charlie Kirk was indeed gone. For the second time when it was confirmed I was on my way to Wal-Mart a second time that day with those cheap sandals but I stayed in the car while the others went in. I couldn’t wrap my head around the President’s message. I can’t remember if it was a Truth Social or it was his official White House account on Telegram now, but it was eventually on both of them. It felt like a slap in the face. Who would want to kill Charlie! It gnawed on me and it still does even though we know a lot more since then.

I would almost say my sandals change was a minor prediction for the sea change coming that afternoon. Maybe that’s too crass, but both losses were difficult for me to handle. The Aunt that I was like and the Fox contributor and Turning Point Founder I knew just a little about; yet on that day both seemed to upend my world. I only just today threw away the damaged sandals, I really hated to throw that connection away. Then I realized something else. The brand name on the sandals is my cousin’s married name. Is that not a little intriguing that the Aunt who died and the cousin who gave me her sandals is the name of the brand of sandals. In a way that is just as comforting as the other sandals being my aunt’s.

As far as Charlie I am not the only one mourning him and together we can still make Charlie’s vision become a reality even after his death. It is already coming true.