Daddy Nine Toes

My friend lost his toe last week. Actually, his toe is not missing but surgeons removed it. The toe was not an important one as toes go, but a toe nonetheless. This happened not because of anything exotic but rather a common infection that assailed this frail appendage until doctors decided it was no longer needed. Over time, the medical profession has determined that we don’t require several body parts – appendixes, gallbladders, tonsils, and now an errant toe seeking its own way in life. I wonder how they know what the body needs, and how did they acquire this knowledge? I wonder why some people heal after life altering events and others dispair in perpetuity until their suffrage becomes contagious and spreads to unwitting family and friends?

We’re all composed of bone and blood; heart and soul; good and trouble. Perhaps the only real difference between people is how some are able to rise above harsh realities and keep moving forward while others remain mired in muck and time. For all of life’s inequities, we live a common life. We suffer trauma, heartbreak, joy, and pain. We yearn for understanding and belonging. And yet, our unique reactions define and shape each one of us.

Daddy Nine Toes survives life’s assaults whether it hits him in the foot with infection; in the face with injustice; or in the heart with loss. He never went to medical school to fully understand the functions of livers or brains or colons, and yet he understands what is truly needed to live. It’s not a full head of hair. It’s not 20/20 vision or perfect hips. It’s not the ability to eat 20 ounce steaks or kick back martinis.

He knows that life is not a number, a thing, a perfect set of 10 toes. Life is love defying definition, friendships enduring time, and beauty surpassing description. Life is best when authentically shared, treasured when almost lost, experienced when fully lived. After slogging through the mud, Life is rising tall with wise eyes and mischievious grins. Daddy Nine Toes takes it as it comes and keeps on going, standing strong on nine toes and balanced by values, humor, and integrity.