I don’t have anything against shoes. I like shoes just fine. But most days I wear flip flops. Flip flops have been my footwear of choice for at least ten years. And then my vitiligo started to spread to my feet.

The patches started with a spot here and a spot there. They grew over time to include wider patches of my feet and toes. At first I could wear the sandals and they would cover the vitiligo patches. The only people that would know about my vitiligo were me and the people I talked to. And then that changed.

Slowly as the vitiligo spread across my hands and feet people noticed. People that I worked with were concerned and would ask. Which was great because it is therapeutic to talk with caring people about vitiligo when you have vitiligo. I generally don’t like to be the center of attention in social situations. I don’t mind when it happens occasionally. And as long as people were nice, inquering about the disorder and then went back to business as usual, I was very comfortable talking about it.

Even so, I went out and started shopping for shoes. I got some nice shoes too and I enjoyed them. The reason I went out and bought a bunch of shoes was because I did not want people to see the white patches on my feet. My hands I didn’t do anything about for a while. But I could cover my feet up. I stopped wearing shorts as much. In fact I still don’t wear shorts as often as I used to because of the patches on my shins and ankles.

About a year and a half ago I started wearing sandals again. Even more often than I had done so previously I wore sandals all the time. With slacks, when going out, staying in, washing the car, working in the yard, helping someone move, whatever I was doing, I was most often wearing sandals. I still wear sandals. I simply decided that it did not matter what someone else thought of my skin. If someone noted the lack of pigment on some areas of my skin then so be it. It has been healthier for me to live without worrying about what someone else thinks. And the fact is, no one really cares. I guess maybe someone has thought, oh thats gross, or what’s wrong with that guy but it really does not matter to me.

My friends refuse to allow me to lament my skin coloration. This has been sustaining. Without people that are able to tell me to get over myself and my fears and know how to actually make me hear them, I don’t know what I would be wearing on my feet. But today, in part, because of some great people I know, I am wearing sandals.