Bigger shoes to fill...

Well, not too much exciting has been happening with Wes (thank goodness!) so let's talk about Mark's feet. Why you ask? Because Wes is feeling really good, so good in fact he's presently working two jobs and doing well at it. He does come home pretty tired, but overall seems to be content and feeling very good. He won't be starting his next round of chemo for a couple of weeks and his next MRI is in September, so, since I haven't got too much else to talk about then talking about something as boring like Mark's feet is a nice change.
Shopping for shoes for Mark has always been an interesting experience. When he was in high school he outgrew Sears which only went up to size 13, sometimes 14 for a special shoe.
He then got shoes from Canadian Footwear in Winnipeg and they took him to the next level which was size 16. But, a few months ago his toes burst for freedom through the end of his shoes and his runners officially became New Balance flip flops. So, what can you do? About a week ago we went to Winnipeg to find Wes some new runners because his were already breathing their last as well. We went to Canadian Footwear and since we were there we asked about their stock for size 17 shoes, because that was our best guess for Mark's new shoe size. We were told that anything over 16 would have to be ordered in and that would take anywhere from 4-6 weeks. Hmmm. We were ready to walk out the door when the one clerk turned to the other and asked her if her brother hadn't just started working at a store that specializes in larger shoes. Well, their conversation confirmed that there was such a store and that it was at St. Vital, but no one could remember the name.
The next shoe store that we went to knew of the store as well, but couldn't remember the name. Then the third shoe store in the St. Vital mall hadn't even heard of this store at all. So, what do you do?
I suggested that Wes should drive along the perimeter of the St. Vital mall where there are smaller strip malls to see if we could find something there and sure enough at the very end of the rainbow was a tiny store called...wait for it...BigFootz...now is that an easy name to remember for an oversize shoe store or what!?!? And yet no one could...
We walked in and were greeted by a pair of huge blue runners and a very talkative salesman.

After a brief conversation we were given his business card to take home to Mark. Well, the long and the short of it is (pardon the pun), Mark went in, they measured and voila he is officially a size 18. To give you a feel for it I took some pictures for comparison sake.

Wes' shoe (brown) is a size 11

I put my shoe beside theirs...looks like my shoe is screaming 'Help!'

So, what does any of this have to do with the journey we are on? Not much really, but it reminds me that though there are times when I feel as though everything in my world has shifted and changed so much so that I hardly recognize it. Yet, there is a normalcy that is hidden beneath all that change. There are things that still make me smile, things that I can make fun of and even rejoice in finding.

But, on the other hand it does make me stop and think as I look at these pictures. 'Who's shoes I'm trying to fill...the world's or God's?'

"Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground." Acts 7:33