I once heard a great saying, “God gives His toughest battles to His strongest soldiers.” I’d like to think of my bunions as that challenge God gave me. My battle is the battle against perfect feet. Back when I was younger, I would often be ashamed of those crooked things (aka bunions) on my feet but now I see them as beauty marks. No one can say that the misalignment of joints in their feet cause holes on the sides of their shoes, or that their favorite leather shoes have scuff marks in that spot as well. Or that their favorite sandals and flip flops always highlight this beautiful feature and once you take off those sandals the only part of your feet that’s dirty is in fact, your bunion.

My battle against perfect feet began ever since I was taken to the orthopedist by my frantic mother when I was 7 years old in hopes of a cure to this horrendous “disease.” I used to let those perfect feet walk all over me but now I am the one stomping on them and showing off my beauties. Some will look at me and them with disgust but I know that they’re just jealous that their feet can’t do what mine can.

I’m writing this as a thank you. It took me a while to finally accept the fact that this is the way I am. Although they may be seen as an imperfection by our society, I see them as a thing that makes me stick out of the crowd (or stick out of the sides of my shoes). Beautiful feet are too mainstream. Sure I could never be a foot model but those “fix your bunion” ads are just calling my name. Now I have grown in confidence. Oddly enough, my feet caused a lot of confidence issues back in the day but now, after meeting more of my kind (bunion buddies), I have learned that we could fight this battle together with one hand tied behind our back (because we have those extra durable feet to use as weapons). I used to curse the beautiful features on my feet. I used to curse the gene that made them bud out on my feet. I used to beg my mom for surgery and the amount of remedies I tried to get rid of them-infinite. After years of bullying and name calling I now use them as a weapon to repel those haters. I’ve dealt with probably every single type of hater.

The disgusted friend:

“Ew, Bella those are nasty.” (*I then proceed to touch the hater with my bunion to freak them out*).

The uneducated hater:

“Are they contagious?” I wish. Then I could contaminate you.

The hopeful romantic (*cough*cough* Chase):

“I hope my kid is never born with a bunion.” Too bad 23% of the world’s population has them :).

Or my favorite, a guy I liked once said:

“Wow, if it weren’t for the bunion, you have major potential.” Can you say keeper?

So yes, I’ve gotten bullied and I still continue to get called out for my gorgeous feet. I think people are just jealous. I have learned that this is just a battle I have to face. I am stronger now. So thank you my left side wing man, Benny and my right side wing woman, Berty. I don’t know what I’d do without you. I’d also like to apologize for the previous actions I took in order to get rid of you. You didn’t deserve to see or hear that. Truce?