Lessons Learned

Both Aaron and I learned some valuable lessons this past week.  We went picking for wild black raspberries last week and so I figured I would wear my old work pants and an old t-shirt.  Unfortunately, my work pants have holes in the knees (which is why they are work pants).  Normally this isn't a problem.  It does become a problem, however, when one is traipsing through poison ivy in order to pick raspberries.  I now have poison ivy on my knee (thankfully just one) and on spots on my forearm.  We went berry picking the following week.  I wore my "good" jeans that do not have holes in the knees and a long sleeved shirt.  There have been no more fresh outbreaks of poison ivy.  Lesson learned.

Aaron's lesson regarded running.  He's been interested in trying out running barefoot as he's heard it greatly helps with injury prevention and he's tired of dealing with some nagging injuries.  He's run some on grass, but around here, we don't have any nice large grassy areas to run for an extended amount of time.  He decided to try going out and running on a dirt road (for those who live east of the Mississippi, a dirt road does not a equal gravel road), figuring it would be a nice soft surface for his feet.  His feet spend most of their waking day in socks and shoes so are not accustomed to running on many surfaces without shoes.  Dirt roads are nice because they do not have large chunks of gravel.  However, they are sandy.  Have you ever seen how sand can erode rock over time?  It takes much less time to erode feet when feet are not built up in callouses.  This took about 600 meters to accomplish.

If you can't see this well, they are massive blisters on the balls of his feet, big toes, and second toes.  He tried draining them that night, but wimped out and started to get all nauseous over it.  I had to finish the job for him.  They almost immediately refilled.  He's drained them three times now and is hobbling around like an old man.  I must say I am not at all the sympathetic wife he wishes I was.  I have spent much time making fun of him as he waddles around and cracking jokes at his expense.  He's being a good sport about it.  If he didn't find it so funny himself, I wouldn't be so mean.  So hopefully there is a lesson learned in here somewhere for him too.  (Marry a woman who feels genuine empathy for you when you are wounded by your own silly notions).

So have you learned any valuable lessons lately?  Pass them on to me so I don't have to learn them by my own stupidity!