good advice

Sophie gave me some really great advice this morning. I'm so glad that I listened to her! First some background:

A couple weeks ago a spot in my lower back started hurting pretty badly and I began to suspect that I might have a compression fracture (lovely prednisone side effect), and it got so bad one day that I went to the doctor. Among her advice, she strongly suggested that I wear athletic shoes at work instead of my usual Dansko's. I have worn and loved Dansko shoes since I was 13 years old so I was skeptical, but I was in enough pain to give her advice a try. I bought a new pair of tennis shoes (all my old ones were too dirty from camping to wear at work) and wore them for a week. Within a day or two I felt immensely better. Then the weekend came, and I wear slippers at home and did wear Dansko's a couple times out and about.

So today it's Monday, and as we're rushing out the door (always happens...) I was hesitating between wearing the tennis shoes or the Dansko's. I decided on the Dansko's, and Sophie looked up from putting her shoes on and said, "Mom, those shoes will make your back hurt, you're supposed to wear your fast shoes." I responded that my back had been feeling better and I thought I would try wearing the Dansko's again. She held my "fast shoes" up to me and suggested I take them with me in case I changed my mind. So I did - mainly just to make her happy so as to get out the door faster.

Fast forward a couple hours and I'm on my feet at work, bending over the counter to write in a chart, and I realize that my back hurts so much that I'm practically stuck bent over and I have to push myself back up to standing. By lunch time I was more than ready to change into my fast shoes that I had left inside the car; another couple hours of wearing my fast shoes and my back was already feeling better and I was so thankful that I listened to Sophie earlier. Thank goodness for bossy, know-it-all almost-five-year-olds!