March 2026 SOLC–Day 26
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Where were they? 

I was totally and utterly discombobulated. 

The day started as usual. I woke early (3:45…sigh)  and got out of bed at 4 am and slid into my normal routines. I grabbed my robe. Went downstairs. Turned the coffee pot on. Poured my orange juice. Fed the cats. Dealt with my Invisalign. Then I went to slide on my slippers and sit down and write. But my slippers were nowhere to be found. 

We wear slippers a lot, especially in the winter. We live in an old house and the air is definitely cooler around the floor. Also, the tops of nails sometimes work up from old pine floors to snag unwary socks. Slippers are always a good idea. Typically, my old and bedraggled slippers sit waiting for me under my desk, like a faithful hound, ready to warm my feet. Sometimes I’ve moved them in the evening and find them in the morning beside my chair, or near the door to the hallway. They’re always somewhere in the family room.  But not this morning. I looked around the room, again and again, but I simply couldn’t find them.

Finally, I shrugged and sat down to write. I started and stopped. Started again. Stopped. I just couldn’t settle. Nothing felt quite right and my feet were chilly.

After a few moment’s of struggle, I gave up and got up to look for my slippers yet again. I glanced all around the room. They had not miraculously appeared. I looked under my chair, under the table and by the door…again. I walked out to the hallway and scanned. I looked in the mudroom. I had a dim recollection of wearing them last night and of taking them off when I went upstairs to get something. I went out to the hallway to check. Nope.

Where in the world could they be!?

I couldn’t believe how much my missing slippers threw me off my stride. I’m sure this says something weird about me, but at this point, I was determined to find them. I keep re-searching, looking in the same places and a few new and unlikely ones, but they were nowhere to be found. Finally, I gave up and sat down to write, but I still felt off, as if part of my brain was still churning trying to remember where I had last seen my slippers. Eventually, I got up again and put on a pair of warmer socks, but they were a poor substitute.

Apparently my slippers not only warm and protect me, but they ground me, too. It’s kind of laughable. Who knew I was that dependent on my slippers!