My feet & my family

[AdminAssistant]

I tip-toed up stairs when I was taking dance classes to help strengthen my calves.

[Aethian]

In the summer months I climb stairs on the balls of my feet, why? Cause I feel more steady. Going down however I need my full foot on the step for I fall forward.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Yeah, I don't get my mother anymore at all. She LIVES with chronic pain herself, too--she has fairly severe back pain [and has had to get physical therapy at least once], and she has plantar fasciitis. So she even has pain in her feet! And I know the doctors have explained multiple times exactly how clubfeet affects me. How much it hurts. And I've told her, again repeatedly, how much it hurts. She's seen me limp. She's seen me burst into tears because I can't walk anymore. She's seen me when I've had to stand so long, my feet went numb.

Maybe she figures since she has to live in pain, you do too?

That's the best possible explanation I have and it's still awful.