Happiness is tying shoes

[beandelphiki]

I have a new CD. It's "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." The musical, a 1999 version. One of my favorite casts.

So I'm listening to the song "Happiness," and there's this lyric in there:

Happiness...[is] tying your shoe for the very first time.

And it made me remember the first time I tied my own shoes.

I was 5, I think. My parents bought me these shoes to encourage me to learn to tie them - they were hideous. Primary colored. I'd scan in a picture if we had our scanner set up. They were bright yellow and reddish-pink and blue. I loved them, of course. Hey, I was 5.

My parents tied my shoes for me for the longest while. Then one evening, just because - I decided to learn how to do it on my own.

My parents were both busy. My dad was reading the paper, and my mom was in the kitchen doing something I can't remember now. Cooking, probably. I was asking them to help me learn how to tie my shoes, and I got this, "Not now, honey, later."

Well, when you're 5, there is no later. So I decided to just figure it out on my own.

I sat at the mat by the door, across the room from my father. (We lived in a little apartment.) He had these big black boots, and I examined how they were done up very carefully. (He must have just pulled them off.) I pulled the laces out very, very slowly so I could see how the laces wound together. I didn't quite catch it all the first time, so I paused my dad in his reading long enough to get him to tie up his boots again. The I went back and did it again.

I must have done that three or four times. When I was satisfied I got how it worked, I put my shoes on and tied them up, working the un-tying process backward. It took me a few klutzy tries, but I got it. Then I went marching off to show my parents I'd tied my shoes.

Proud moment.



So I was thinking about kids I might have someday.

Because I'm transsexual, they are not going to be my bio kids. They'll have to be someone else's bio kids. And I have some issues about this that have been bothering me lately.

But who cares? It suddenly hit me that no matter where my kid comes from, or what they're like, it must be such a joyous thing to watch your kid learn to tie their shoes. And I wondered how a future kid of mine might go about doing it.

Would they be the type to do it somewhat sloppily, but quickly in the rush to get places, do things, tripping over their laces for years before they got it right? Would they be the sober type that only did things very precisely, and got laces-tying down well? Would they be the type that struggles and struggles with such miniature maneuvers, so the final result is such a triumphant one?

That question, compared to all my concerns.

Some things are just not as important in the grand scheme of things.

Comments

[ex-rainy-day713.livejournal.com]

I learned to tie my shoes by observing a plain plastic bag and the way the two hands of it were knotted together. So, I made two loops with my ties and tied them together. And tadaaaa. And that's still how I tie my shoes now. I know the right way to do it (duh, at my age, it'd be a pity) but it just stayed.

[katster.livejournal.com]

Tying shoes is the one thing I flunked and flunked horribly in kindergarten. So my mom gave up and bought me velcro shoes. I finally figured out how to tie them when I was in the seventh grade, and I'm still the joke of my family when they come untied, because a lot of times I'd just ignore them if they came untied (and they came untied a lot because my loops sucked...I'm better now.)

-kat

[benthecube.livejournal.com]

my mom gave up and bought me velcro shoes

Oh thank god I wasn't the only one! I used to get other people to tie my shoes for me when they came undone, until I got the velcros at least. I loved my velcros to pieces! Why don't they make them in adult sizes?