Funky Toe

Some might find it interesting that given the power to change one of my physical features that I would choose to change my toe, but it really isn’t that hard to understand once you know how much my poor toe has been through. Hurt, deformed, permanently damaged, mocked…yes, my big toe has been through quite a lot. It all started that fateful day,  12 years ago…
I was ten years old, and definitely in my “awkward stage”  uncoordinated  and klutzy as can be.  One day while looking through the pantry, I dropped a jar on my foot. My toe instantly started swelling and bruising. A few days later my toenail fell off. Unfortunately, this was just the beginning. Of course, the nail grew back…but it was different, thinker and shorter. My nail bed was damaged, and having an ingrown toenail was common and often resulted in an infection. I started referring to it as my funky toe, and my - oh so compassionate -  siblings quickly followed suit . Eventually, I went to the foot doctor and had an procedure done to prevent it from becoming ingrown. It wasn’t as painful anymore, but I will never forget the words the doctor said…I asked him if there was anything I could do to make it grow back normal (now that I was in Jr. High, being normal was very important to me). He said no, and that my toe would always be bulbous. For some reason, I found that extremely offensive, yet strangely funny.  He couldn’t have known that he christen my poor toe with a new name.
I started to avoid wearing flip-flops, and often would curl my toes under my foot to hide my deformity. One magical day while getting a pedicure I discovered something amazing…it was possible to get an acrylic nail on your toes!  Of course, I decided to try it. I was thrilled with the result, was even wore open-toed high heels to a wedding! I couldn’t have been prepared for what followed…while out on the dance floor, someone stepped on my toe, ripping both the real and the fake nail off by the roots.  This became somewhat of a cycle. My nail would grow back, I would get a fake one, and eventually both nails would come off. I started only getting the fake nail for special occasions,  but  by now my nail bed was even further damaged. Even the slightest stub of my toe can cause my nail to detach itself.  That I’ve lost my toenail so many times, in the most opportune places has been a joke in my family for years.  I’ve even lost it Disneyland! Heck, I wouldn’t let Prince Charming anywhere near my foot, even if he did have my glass slipper!
My funky, bulbous toe is, by far, my worst feature…

The Big Valley

Pro's Ranch Market

This morning my dad woke me up to go shopping with him and my mom. The original plan was to go to the Costco Business Center for a projector so we could watch a movie while relaxing in the pool (this has been one of Pop's fondest dreams for years...in his perfect plan, my whole family floats on inner tubes while watching Jaws).  Well, as usual with my parents, any trip on a Saturday morning includes multiple stops at yard sales and random stores, and somehow or another we landed at a Mexican grocery store.

And not just any store, this one might as well be located Mexico. I love stuff like this. 

I'll never forget my first experience in a Asian grocery store (thanks to Carol Farr), but this was so much better! Now, I LOVE grocery shopping, and I think I am one of the few people in the world who likes to "window shop" in grocery store. It's the Denny blood in me...what can I say; we just love food.

       

           

 

        

Food from other cultures is so fascinating to me. It's amazing that we have pretty much the same ingredients but use them in such different ways. 

For example:  Cow stomach can become menudo (which I sampled, by the way),

and chicken feet must be delicious if prepared properly!

                                                

I could have stayed in the store forever, wondering up and down the isles, but alas, all good things must come to an end. Unfortunately, the end came before I was ready when a manager informed me that taking pictures of items in the store was not allowed. I did manage to sneak in a few more, but not without feeling a trifle guilty. Oh well, it was time to be on our way. 

 

                                                     American stores are so boring.