Fire Prevention 101

First, let me tell you I've missed blogging. In September I enrolled at BYU-Idaho in an online degree program, and the classes have taken the majority of my free time. When not doing course work, I was either getting called out to work, or serving with the Young Single Adults. I had always hoped I would be able to get to a point where I could schedule my assignments, get them done on schedule, and free up some time to get back to blogging. I think that time has arrived, and I hope it will continue, because, believe me, you've missed some great times! Over the next days and weeks I hope to get you all up to date with our summer activities, Ethanisms, and insights... Thank you for sticking around, I hope you enjoy!

In September we drove MoKo to LDS Business College in Salt Lake City. It was a nice trip, but very emotional. We had arranged our schedule so that we would not be driving constantly. We had planned on taking two days to drive up and two days to drive back. We wanted to arrive early so that we could see the sights, and ensure we had enough time to get MoKo settled in her apartment, and explore town finding grocery stores, the credit union, and Trax, among others things.

On the way up we learned that we needed to notify Ethan about ten minutes before we stopped for gas, or food, that he needed to put his shoes back on. This is usually a process because he needs to tie them approximately ten times, maybe more if there is room left on the laces. It is not that he reties them over and over looking for the perfect knot, it is just that he ties them initially, then ties the loose ends again, and again, and again, until there is nothing left but a large strand of knots. This takes about ten minutes!

Last summer we had driven to Utah for a family reunion and, you might recall, had an issue with foot odor! Well, not this time. The moment we got in the car he had to take his shoes off because he didn't want...

...My feet to catch on fire!

Yeah, every single time we got in the car his shoes would come off. Apparently keeping his shoes on made his feet warm, which caused him to think they would suddenly combust. It didn't matter how long we would be in the car, the shoes needed to be off, period. This even occurred when we got in the car to drive MoKo's luggage from the hotel to her apartment - a total of 800 yards! We asked him to keep his shoes on, telling him we would only be a minute until we would get out, but the possibility of his feet suddenly bursting into flames was too overwhelming, and off they would go! While one of us waited for the shoe-tying extravaganza to finish, the others would unload, order lunch, head to the hotel room, nap, etc. Eventually we would get the shoes back on, tied, and rejoin the rest of the family.

This fear of extemporaneous foot conflagration caused from shoes gave rise for him to request - no demand - that everybody take their shoes off now that we are at home. Thankfully we have heeded his wise counsel, and have never suffered from a single spontaneous podiatric spark!