Floppy Toes
“What’s wrong with you?”. That phrase can mean so many things, depending on the tone, who’s asking, and your “normal” versus the current situation. I’ve been asked “What is wrong with you?” plenty of times, from laughing at things only I’ve found funny to sitting in a doctor’s office hoping to get a diagnosis. As it turns out we all have something wrong with us at any given time!
One of my most wrong things that I have going is a case of a floppy toe. Now you might think that this sounds insignificant. Maybe it sounds gross and to be honest it actually does! Maybe you even think its code for another ailment. Nope! And I’m fairly certain you will never see a television commercial with a medical remedy for the dreaded floppy toe. This tragic condition means I have a toe that is floppier than most and doesn’t function like it used to when I was whole and complete. I named this condition and its origin traces to a dog-walking incident where I was strolling along with our family pup, taking in the start of a new day, and made the mistake of stepping off a curb. With a pop and a rush of heat through my foot I noticed that my big toe wasn’t acting so big. A simple step caused a rupture in my foot and forever changed how my body would run and ride the rest of my life. The big guy, the main digit, the primary mover of my foot was kind of…limp.
Upon further diagnosis from a doctor that asked, “what’s wrong with you?” we found out that one of my two extensor tendons had snapped and stopped extending my big toe. I was down to one very important tendon that could hold my toe in place and serve as a lever for my foot to function efficiently. Big toes are big deals when it comes to ambulating down the road so from a sports performance perspective it’s a bit of a nuisance to only have half the tendons working. As it turns out that one tendon is still hanging on and doing the work of two but it’s noticeably different.
Since that day that I started functioning with 9 and a half toes I’ve noticed a few things. See if this makes sense to you, my fellow floppy toed reader. First of all, my floppy toe is surrounded by other toes. They aren’t as big and don’t replace the work of my floppy toe but boy are they needed! They have pitched in and helped stabilize my entire foot and take the pressure off of my big toe. They all live in the same sock and shoe and work well together; even though there’s really not another example for them to follow. They just work at it as a team. A toe team.
Secondly, I can notice a difference between my floppy toe foot and my regular right foot. They don’t work the same. At all. I can see different wear patterns on my shoes. I’m also the guy that can really sense how things work versus how they should work. So shoe wearing is a bit like arts and crafts time for me. I mold, sculpt, and adjust things in every pair of shoes I have so that my floppy toe’s floppiness is minimized. Will it ever go away? No. But I can spend time accommodating it and bringing it to a new state of worthiness.
Third, I’m not disabled because of my floppy toe. It’s not perfect. It doesn’t work like it should. But it hasn’t limited me from doing what I want to do, need to do, or have to do. Declaring and shouting out what I’m lacking might serve as a reason for me to do poorly or even not try something. But the reality is that life keeps going with bumps, bruises, and floppy toes.
I wouldn’t wish a floppy toe on anyone, but the reality is we are all walking around with a floppy toe issue in one way or another. It’s life. We are walking around and just like that, we are faced with a new blemish, a new issue, or a new crisis. Maybe it’s a past decision that wasn’t so smart or a season of life that just wasn’t on the right track. These are floppy toes! We all have them whether we acknowledge them or not. Some try to ignore these floppy toes. Some try to cover them up so no one knows. Others put their floppy toes out there as a disclaimer to do whatever or nothing. The floppy toe is just a reason for new, unhealthy behavior.
Treating our floppy toes. It starts with answering the question, “What’s wrong with you?” and goes along like my real floppy toe condition. We need to find some others that we can depend on, lean on, and hang out with. They may not look like you or act like you, but they will help you carry the load. They are your toe team and God put them next to you for a reason; many times He speaks through them to help you along.
Recently I had a pretty substantial medical procedure (not for my toe!) and I had an army of people messaging me, contacting me, and praying for me. They are still doing all of that! They are helping me carry the load, just like those other toes are working with my floppy big toe.
Whatever your floppy toe issue might be it’s important to recognize it but not elevate or dwell on it. I know my real-life floppy toe won’t work like it used to, but I can bring it up to speed to do the best it can. I know it’s there but with some tweaking I can still move right along. It might not be working as designed but God makes it work as intended for my learning! Our floppy toes in life are the same. We might not look or perform perfectly but those floppy toes are only a part of us, they aren’t the end of us. Your mission going forward might be to keep on rolling despite the floppy toe that came along. Others take notice because they have floppy toes as well, they just don’t know how to cope, deal, and move forward with them.
What’s wrong with you? Absolutely nothing if you keep going, floppy toe and all.
