Shoe Stories

Getting new shoes is an exciting event. Sometimes it takes a little while to break them in but that doesn't diminish the coolness of it. The only thing that makes getting new shoes any cooler is when you get the shoes for free. Not that it happens to me often, but I won a gift card to the Nike Outlet store several weeks ago and used it on some new shoes.
But what about the old shoes? When the time came to throw them out I was a little hesitant, no, even worse, I felt guilty. Those tattered and broken sneakers had served me well for the past five years. Yes, five years! No shoes have ever lasted that long for me. Well, then again when the sole cracks in half you should probably replace your shoes no matter how good they've been to you. But regardless of their declining utility it didn't feel right to just toss them aside so carelessly. So I took this picture......and then I threw them out.
How had this mysterious affection grown for those inanimate objects I simply used to adorn my feet? After all it wasn't the actual leather and laces that I would miss. It was what they had come to represent that almost made me give in to that pack-rat urge to save them. My shoes had become the embodiment of the memories I had made while wearing them. I looked at those sketchers as they flew into the dumpster and their life flashed before my eyes. I remembered vividly the day I picked them out with my grandma as a late present for my 18th birthday (It was my fault it was late. I had been too busy to go on our traditional birthday shopping trip sooner. Thanks Grandma!). I remembered the hikes, the dates, the auditions, the road trips, the everything we'd been on together. And just like that they were gone.
Well, life moves on. Changes is the one thing I seem to be able to count on these days. But, you know, change seems to add a little freshness to life. It keeps me on my toes, and teaches me things I had never before considered. Funny how something like shoes can make me think about that, don't you think?