OK, maybe the Feeling of Displacement has something to do with it and maybe it’s not that either.  I think most of us have done a couple of space-out things like getting dressed in the low light of morning and putting on two different socks without realizing it…. or arrived at a public venue only to discover our shirt was inside out.  Right? Right?  Not the worst thing in the world, really…..

Today I had a couple of meetings and was interviewing someone for a position at work.  While standing in the hallway speaking to a few of the Directors about the fire that had recently occurred in our office, I casually glanced down and suddenly noticed that I was wearing two different colored sandals, one brown and one black.  They happen to be the same style because usually when I find something I like, I stick with it.  The brown ones are a few years old and the black ones were bought the following summer.  They were lying on the floor in a pile this morning when I got dressed. And I’ve been sort of scattered as of late.  Upon discovering this faux pas, I started laughing.  Out loud, to nobody.  Maybe a little bit crazily.

So I decided to get the edge on it and point it out to a few people first before they noticed themselves, providing them with “the first chuckle of the day”, lest it be assumed I was trying to make some kind of a fashion statement.  I mean, personally I don’t see anything wrong with wearing two different colored shoes, but I acknowledge this is not normal office attire.

The fact is, none of the men had noticed. Even when I pointed the difference out, they still couldn’t see it.  Brown. Black.  Black. Brown.  Nothing. Is that a guy thing? And a female coworker even exclaimed, “Oh! Purple nail polish!” (Ironically, the nail polish is something I had also applied haphazardly early one morning in low light – I had thought it was red until I got outside.  And I missed the nails and painted my toes in a few places.  Is this how the descent to craziness begins, those wacky old ladies with their eyebrows painted onto the top of their foreheads?).  So even though nobody noticed or cared,  I now knew.  Although it really didn’t matter, I walked around in my mismatched shoes all day feeling somewhat discombobulated.  Occasionally I would look down and laugh some more.

However, two different people reminded me that I had another pair just like it at home……