I told her that being a single mom reminded me of steel-toed boots. In my mind it made perfect sense, in that funny speed of thought way, connecting events mercurially. In college I worked for my Dad out at the Air Force Base; All the summer help were made to wear steel-toed boots. At first they were ridiculously heavy, just walking was a chore. That first night home I sat down and marveled at how much misery they had added to my work day. The summer work days were lost in my memory, trains full of coal, replacing railroad ties. Shoveling dirt. I was fast forwarded to the end of the summer,…