A friend of mine has a wonderful reminder for me when my brain is all aflutter, and the itty-bitty committee up there is whirling around in my head and has me either way far away in the future, or way back in the past. They ask me, “Mary, where are your feet?” And I look down and realize that my feet are right here in the present.

The question, “Mary where are your feet,” is especially apt during this icy Newburyport, New England winter moment that has come upon us. No matter how enthusiastic the shoveling, snow-blowing or plowing, in Newburyport, New England, ice is us.

And as I go for my walk, I take very literally the words, “Mary, where are your feet.” I try and make sure that they are definitely not on the slipper mine-fields of all those icy patches.

I hear more terrible tales of folks slipping on the New England, Newburyport ice, and elsewhere in New England, breaking or spraining stuff, especially the infamous bracing yourself while slipping on the ice and spraining or breaking the non-dominant wrist thing.

You have my condolences. It really and truly is awful.

I did the infamous brace yourself while falling and do major damage to your wrist thing a few winters ago. It’s amazing what I could not do with only one hand. I was flabbergasted how much I took that non-dominant appendage for granted.

A friend of mine who is a wonderful and kind human being, plus a licensed OT (occupational therapist) who nurtures some lucky, lucky children in the Massachusetts public school system, came up with one particular trick. I was told to use my toes. And yes, I sat on the floor, grabbing whatever it was that I would have grabbed with my non-dominant appendage, and grabbed the object in question with my toes. And God bless my friend the OT, the toe grabbing thing actually worked.

And boy have I ever been major careful since that incident. I spot a patch of ice, which seems to be all surrounding these days, and immediately go into the ancient human being shuffling mode. I figure better to go into the ancient human being shuffling mode, than spend a good amount of time again A) in distress and B) sitting on the floor, clutching stuff with my toes.