Handicap

For a couple of days a muscle in my foot was paralyzed. I thought about what it meant to be handicapped. A cripple. What I would and would not be able to do. Jump around, run, look good in heels, and what this would potentially mean for my future. Getting married was out of the question. I thought about how people look differently at you. You're a pitiable creature, people feel guilty about their own healthy legs and let you pass on the subway stairs. Then of course, it got less. And less. Until only a faint residue of paralysis was left and barely anything abnormal was left about my walk. I almost forgot it was there. Thank you muscles, thank you feet. For being there everyday without complaining.