grown-up feet.

Sunday afternoon, Josh and I are walking the sidewalks at one of the giant centers of commercialism in Cary, NC. We see a little girl up ahead in a pink velour sweatsuit outside a store. Her dad is standing nearby, holding a baby, and most likely keeping the kids out of the store while Mom shops. The little girl takes a few steps down the sidewalk and then suddenly starts gliding fast, because she's got those shoes with the wheels in the heels. Josh and I grin at each other, and I ask him, "Should we do it?" He answers, "Of course." So we take a few more steps in the little girl's direction before giving ourselves a last push on the sidewalk and launching into the same glide. We hear the dad tell the girl to look!look! and we turn to see her running after us with a delighted smile. We wave before continuing on our way.

And thus the inventor of the wheel looked down from the beyond and saw his great invention reach its peak: wheely shoes. These shoes were our Valentine's Day present to ourselves. Tired of seeing cute children inexplicably shoot by with enormous smiles, we decided that we were not too old to have that kind of fun. So we went to the mall to find to our delight that these shoes are in fact made for grown-ups, or at least children with grown-up feet.

We spent Sunday going around to various stores and practicing our new hobby. We went to toy stores and craft stores and any old store we thought would have the right kind of floor. We alternately walked and skated as we made nuisances of ourselves acting like children.

Josh at one point remarked how he never knew how mischievous I was. I realized that I hadn't known either, and the difference has only been a good partner. I'm used to hanging out with people who think acting silly is fun and cute for other people. I remember suggesting goofy things to do in high school; everyone thought it was funny, but no one considered actually doing it. Josh takes these ideas and one-ups them, and then together we celebrate adult silliness. I can't help that I am now an adult, but I don't always want to act like a grown-up. I still pay my bills on time, but if I want to spend the leftover cash on wheely shoes, then that's my right. I'm just glad that I've found someone to skate along with me.

We were gliding by at the grocery store with our dinner ingredients, cruising by the cashiers on the way to the produce section. An older cashier saw us and exclaimed, "They make those for adults?!"

Why yes, they do.