July Style Journal: Easy Sandals

It is a well-known fact that I love flip flop sandals and, given the chance, I would wear them all year long.  However, as I’ve grown older, I’ve found that the standard flip flop sandal doesn’t offer nearly enough arch support for my aging feet.  Can I wear sub-standard flip flops?  Yes, yes I can.  Will I pay the price for this decision?  That is also a yes.  I have a few pairs of high-quality (read: pricey) flip flops but when my most favorite pair suffered a worn out toe post, panic ensued. 

Then, I discovered these sandals.  

They aren’t flip flops, though they share the ease of flip flops and I love wearing them.  I've began to wonder if my love of flip flops is the fact of the toe post or is simply the ease of putting them on…….mind blown, Internet.  Here’s to the ease of summer sandals without an ankle strap.  It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like flip flops, but I can’t have everything.

July 5: Daily Walks

The outdoors are my sweet spot and being able to go for walks and visit gardens and parks has been one of the best parts of my post-hip replacement world.  With the arrival of Summer Break and its relaxed schedule, I’ve made a daily commitment to walks outside.  Sometimes that’s a stroll around my town.  Often, it’s a trip to the familiar landscape of my beloved Colonial Park.

Or a walk in the quiet of Pleasant Valley Park. 

 I’ve also made it a point to find some new places.  For all that it’s small and densely populated, New Jersey has the very best little pockets of beauty, with woodlands and gardens hidden in corners of quiet and sunshine.  I’ve discovered the gem that is the Reed-Reeves Arboretum. 

Just up the hill from my house is the Leonard Buck Garden.  

Being able to go for daily walks and then adding variety to them has been a treat for me, a reminder that being outside is a sure way to bring me the peace and tranquility that feeds happiness.

Grateful

Yesterday, JT and I made a trip west to San Diego.  We’re hanging out with family and later in the week I will see my college roommate.  It’s lovely to see my nephews and San Diego is straight up splendid.  

Most of all I am grateful for my ability to go places and do things; to move with ease.  For a woman who started the year barely able to walk 100 yards (and that in pain), I feel relatively invincible now.  This trip is about my goals for the post-surgery part of my year - getting past my fears of physical limits and re-learning the ability to like my body - but most of all this trip is about having fun and reminding myself that people love me in all my human frailty.  

That’s happy!

July 1: Cardinal Cap Hat

When JT was a little boy, he called his baseball cap his “ball cap hat.” The phrase stuck with me and though I rarely say it out loud, when I see him in a baseball cap, I think of it.  He remains a fan of hats and wears any number of them throughout the year.  For me, baseball caps spell fun and I’ve a new ball cap hat myself, one I acquired with Summer adventures in mind. 

My first trip of the Summer is tomorrow; I’m headed West to see family and friends.  I’ll wear my new ball cap hat and think of my Dad when I do.  That’s happy!