How to tie your shoes

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My cousin Michael taught me how to tie my shoes. The thing is, he taught me about 3 years ago.

He noticed that the bow on my shoelaces was vertical, not horizontal. He pointed out that this meant I was tying a granny knot, not a square knot. "Who cares?" I asked. "Do your shoelaces come untied all the time?" "Well, yes, but I thought everyone's did." Not so, apparently.

He showed me the simple trick to fix it, which is that when you cross the laces over each other the first time, just switch the way you usually cross them. Then you do the loops (some people call these the "bunny ears") the same way as normal. Voila! Perfect shoelaces that don't come untied! (Well, not nearly so easily, anyway.)

What's my point? Always keep an open mind. After all, I thought I already knew how to tie my shoes.

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