on the life of a shoe.

I don't own a car. I haven't since I was 19.

It has been a conscious choice. I'd rather invest the money that I would spend and continually spend on a car into my business, or traveling. And that isn't to say that I wouldn't like a car on days, especially in the winter, and on days when you need freedom from things that keep you tethered to home. Also, running some errands solicits the actual need of a car... but for the most part, I just like walking, and I have generally lived in places where this was a perfectly normal mode of transportation. 

I've pulled out all of my summer shoes, and have started wearing them again. Today as I was walking my iPad to the UPS store to make it someone else's iPad, the sun was bright and I was watching my feet. I was wearing one of my very favorite pair of shoes in the world. A sort of Anthropologie knock off pair of red sandals from 2007, that I found at Payless (who knew?). I thought about all the places they have been, and all the unfortunate weather I have been caught up in, in them. I also thought about how great they look after all this time, and how cool it is that they don't smell, or show the 1000's of miles they've traveled.

I probably wore them in the snow when I should not have, not because they were precious, but because that was dumb...

they've come on every trip with me since I purchased them I've worn them to every market that I have attended. They were there when I was first in Portland and decided that I needed to move there.

(Japanese Gardens, Portland Oregon)

They've been to concerts

(Heart Mind and Soul in Rexburg, Idaho----they must have been brand new here)

They were on my feet the hundreds of hours that I worked in the print lab, they do have a little vine black ink on them.

They've been on dates

They were on almost all of my daily walks up to Broulims in Rexburg

Not knowing what to expect, they were the one of two pair of un-sensible shoes that I brought with me my first year of Squam

(squam Holderness, New Hampshire)

They were the only shoes that I packed on my day trip to Basel (that turned into 3 days in Neuchatel) while I was in Switzerland. It rained at the farmers market, and they got super soggy.

(Market in Neuchatel, Switzerland)

They've been taken off at literally hundreds of security check points in countless airports

They've been on through dozens of museums

(Montreaux, Switzerland )

so not only do I have a lot of pictures of these shoes, but for some reason it stuck out to me today. Looking at them in all of these pictures, I don't think they are particularly cute anymore... A lot of years past, and a lot of ground has been covered. And in this throw away society we live in, it doesn't feel like things really last, especially things you only pay $12 for.

I've been sitting here trying to recognize why this was significant to me today. This is the conclusion that I have formed:

I've been thinking about a lot about being 26, and what that means and if i've used my years well or wisely. I think the real point is that I am actually proud of my years. I guess I bought the shoes around the same time that I started achieving things, and globe trotting, and they reminded me of that progress as I walked with them on my feet today.